Secrets Of Understanding
by LoveKiraSen
Summary: What happens when the ever confident Frank Hardy, finds himself confused. What happens when he loses it. Will Frank need the help of the new girl in Bayport High ? Or will Joe help his brother out of the hell he has found himself in. Read on to find out.
1. A new day

**Disclaimer : Hardy Boys does not belong to me. The characters too do not belong to me except Elieen John.**

 **This story has Frank as a troubled, disturbed teenager, this is just to show that no one's perfect. And also, it is always Frank who looks out for Joe as a big brother, comforting him and always doing the logical thinking. This time Joe is going to be after his brother, trying to do the logical stuff and the brawn stuff. Come on, give Frank Hardy a break :-)**

Chapter-1

 **Six weeks ago -**

 _"_ _ **You will never escape me ,**_

 _ **I will make your life miserable.**_

 _ **I shall haunt you for the rest of your life until you beg for death"**_

The voice kept whispering in his head as he ran. His legs were aldready weak and he felt like passing out. He could aldready feel the light headedness taking over. Finally when exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him, he stopped, trying to catch his breath and make sense of his surroundings.

"Frank? Is that you?"

The eighteen year old teen turned, startled to hear the familiar voice.

"Con?" Frank said weakly.

Officer Con Riley was standing in front of him with a God-what- happened-to-you? look.

Frank felt the dizziness take over him.

"Frank are you alright? Do you need help? what has...woah! woah! Frank. Frank?"

Frank Hardy passed out but was caught before his head hit the road.

"Frank? Frank wake up." Officer Riley kept calling.

"What are you looking at?" Shouted officer Riley at a teenager who was gaping at the incident like it was a part of a Tv show. "What do they teach in schools these days? Call the bloody ambulance aldready!"

 _ **End of Flash back.**_

With the seventeen year old,easy going, blond haired, Joseph Hardy at the wheel the van was unusually silent. Joe kept stealing glances at his brother, but it remained the same way it had been six weeks back; the face devoid of any emotion. Even if Frank did happen to show any emotion it was only anger and madness. Since six weeks back, things were never the same between him and his brother. Frank's anger sometimes turned to insane talk or he would just walk out of the house without telling anyone and come back only the next morning. It worried his family and mostly his mom. The brothers' father Fenton Hardy , world famous private detective had cut his tour short and rushed home when he had heard what happened . But no amount of coaxing or talking had made Frank talk. His madness only got worse. Till today something Joe never understood was, how his brother who wasn't supposed to be back from Kansas until that evening six weeks ago had landed in the Bayport General badly hurt.

Joe sighed and parked the car in his usual parking spot and the brothers got out.

"The others will want to know." Joe said looking at Frank's face waiting for any trace of expression.

"No." came the reply. Joe wasn't surprised, this was the reply he had been expecting but he felt sorry for Callie though. There was not a single day his brother's girl friend hadn't called to find out how he was and yet Frank acted like a jerk and never talked to her. Finally, when Callie came to the extent of cutting her tour short in England, he briefly told her what had happened to Frank. Joe could guess Callie had been shocked, but he also knew Callie would never show it. Yesterday when Callie had called asking if Frank had talked, Joe had to give her a negative reply. To his surprise Callie said she was prepared to wait even if it meant till the end of the school year. That only saddened Joe more. True, he and Callie never got along on most things but Frank was one of those things they actually got along. Coming to think of it not only Callie would be worried, but also the rest of the gang. But how much ever he tried, Frank never listened.

The brothers had almost reached the school building now.

"You could try. You know ?" Joe told his brother silently.

But as usual Joe got the silent treatment from his brother. Inside the school Frank and Joe were first greeted by their ever friendly, plump, red haired friend Chet Morton.

"Oh! I missed you guys" Chet said as he took turns to hug both his friends.

"Hey Chet! " Joe greeted back.

"Do you guys know, I went to this awesome planetarium exhibition and bought a live model of a nebulae burst. I tried to figure how it works, no success though. All of you must come see it. You might actually be able to figure something out Frank" Chet said grinning enthusiastically.

Joe couldn't help smiling too. He knew Chet was worried about what had happened to Frank but he was wise enough not show it. He had started a topic on space, one of Frank's all time I love to talk about topics. If there was something Joe knew about Chet, then it was the fact that Chet would move heaven and hell to make his friends happy. Joe wouldn't be surprised if he found out Chet had spent his entire year's savings on that nebulae model just to start up this topic with Frank.

"I'll try Chet." was Frank's reply.

Joe noticed that Chet wasn't a bit dissapointed by Frank's answer. Joe was about to say something to Frank when they were interrupted by Mrs. Bob their Principal's personal assistant.

"Mr. Hardy" boomed the elderly woman coming towards Frank, Joe and Chet.

Joe noticed that behind her was a girl who was as old as his brother .

Joe noticed the girl had black hair which she tied up into a way those Chinese girls did, With their hair tied into a bouncy bun held with those slide view clips. ' dosen't look a bit Chinese ' thought Joe.

She wore a simple loose white top and pants. Her dress made her resemble a girl from the seventies.

Most certainly not from around here, Joe thought. None of the girls in Bayport dressed as simple as that.

"Mr. Hardy" said Mrs. Bob to Frank "this is our newest student. She has just joined here. Would you mind showing her to her classes today?"

Joe looked at Frank afraid he was going to say no but to his surprise Frank replied yes. But then Joe realized Frank might have accepted just to get away from the others and further questions.

"Excellent ! Thank you Mr. Hardy".

"Frank Hardy" Frank introduced himself and he held out his hand.

" Elieen John . you can call me Lina."

Lina said and shook Frank's hand.

"This is my brother Joe and my friend Chet" Frank said with no expression in his face.

"Hey Lina " Joe said as he shook her hand. Chet too grinned broadly and shook Lina's hand.

"Its nice meeting you" she said.

"So you ever lived in Bayport before?"Joe asked her.

"No."

"Where did you live before ?"

" My family and I are from China." Lina replied

"Wait, you are Chinese? you have a first class American accent and looks babe" Joe said looking at Lina top to bottom.

Lina smiled. "Ever heard of emmigrants ? " Lina asked still smiling. Joe felt felt a sense of calm around the girl. He didn't know why. But it was like he had known her for ages.

"We moved to China five years ago. Before that we were very much American." Lina said.

"Bet you know kung fu huh?" Chet asked and

Lina laughed . "I might"

At that moment Vanessa and Tony joined in.

"Hey, who's your friend? " Vanessa asked as she kissed Joe on the cheek. Joe kissed her back.

"Lina, my girlfriend. My girlfriend, Lina." Joe said introducing. Vanessa just shook her head and smiled at her boyfriend's dumb humour.

"Hi , I am Vanessa." Vanessa said shaking Lina's hand.

"Tony Prito" Tony said shaking his hand too. "I believe you are with Frank, Phil and me."

"Yes."

"So, tell me Lina, how was your time there ?" Vanessa asked eagerly. Joe knew his girlfriend was very much interested in the cultures of countries. He grinned at her with a knowing look.

"It was pretty nice. Might find it a bit difficult to blend in, but once you have, you can't help but like it." Lina replied.

"Cool" Vanessa said her eyes brightening "we must really talk during lunch"

"Gladly."

Joe smiled. Maybe from now on, he wouldn't have to listen to his girlfriend's lectures about the tribes of Arctic or education in Japan. No offense to his girlfriend though. He really really loved her, but the problem was he never really understood what she was saying half the time.

"I'll show you to your class." Frank interrupted as he pulled Lina from his friends.

"Oh. Yeah." Lina said serenely.

Joe looked surprised. In an instinct Joe looked past Frank and saw Phil Cohen waving goodbye to his mother. Aha! So Frank doesn't want to be under Phil's X- ray vision.

"It is really nice meeting you guys." Lina said , before Frank pulled her away to acquaint her with Bayport High. Guess, Frank thought showing a girl around would be much better than facing the gang.

At that moment Phil reached them. "Should I get my eyes tested ? or did I just see Frank ?" he asked.

"Don't worry man, you did." Joe replied. He knew it was only a matter of time before his friends started bombarding him with questions. And no sooner did he complete that thought, they all started asking him questions like bullets shooting out of a gun.

"Joe, what happened to Frank?"

"Where did he go ?"

"How did he get home? "

"What did the doctor say?"

"Did he talk to Callie?"

"Did he talk you about what happened?"

"Did your father figure out who did this ?"

Joe felt like his head was going to blast.

"Guys. guys. guys! Stop. I have absolutely no idea what's going on with Frank"

"But Joe, Frank basically tells you everything." Vanessa said, with a frown.

"Really Van, don't you think I'd aldready be doing something , if that's the case ?" Joe said sadly.

"Its like I am an outsider to him you know, all Frank does is give insane talk about betrayal, hell, blah blah blah. Do you know what he did when dad tried to talk to him ? He just slammed the door right across dad's face. I don't know guys,..." Joe sighed deeply "Frank is acting like he is absolutely out of his mind and I don't know what I am going to tell Callie when I see her in class today."

"We are really sorry Joe" Chet said as he patted Joe on the back.

"I don't want to go into the details guys." Joe says "I 'll tell you when I'm ready"

"That's agreed man." Biff said giving Joe a hug.

"If it helps, Tony and I will try figuring things out in class." Phil said with sincerity in his voice and Joe felt thankful.

"Thanks Phil"

"You're welcome buddy."

...

"Oh! Callie, this is so very sweet of you" Vanessa squealed with delight.

God! Girls, they squeal for every single thing , thought Joe, as he kept toying with the noodles in his plate. Vanessa was going crazy over a piece of British jewellery that Callie had bought for her in London.

Callie had been sweet enough to go around the malls of London to look for the perfect gift for everyone. Joe had got a leather jacket with the the letter J embroided on the left side, Biff had got a new soccer ball and Chet had got a nice sweater with the the england flag in the middle of it to use for winter. Everything they had wished for, Callie had read their mind and had bought it for them. Now, the only people left were Tony, Phil and Frank.

"Did it cost like too much?"

"No Van, just twenty pounds" Callie replied

"Twenny. not Twenty" Joe and the others at the table shouted, except Vanessa of course.

They had spent almost half a day trying to correct Callie's American pronunciation.

"Look at you now, you are a perfect Brit. Two months in Britan, and you have aldready signed up for their I want to be a Brit program " Joe said, shaking his head mocking at Callie playfully.

"You are a jerk as always Joe, a funny one though, Vanessa must have lived through hardships of seven lives to deal with you" Callie said smirking at Vanessa and then at Joe.

Vanessa just shook her head. "Very funny Callie" Joe said back.

"Hey guys! Look, Frank, Tony, Phil and Lina are coming" Chet said enthusiastically.

At that moment Joe noticed Callie's face turn to concern. Joe could only feel sorry for her. He had told her in class, not to expect much from Frank and she had agreed but all the same he knew that some where down her heart she was hoping.

"Callie! Its so good to see you." Phil exclaimed.

"Where is the duchess in you?" Tony sang teasingly

"The disease is worse than we thought" Joe replied from the background and Callie punched him playfully.

"You must be Lina, I am Callie. We didn't get a chance to meet in the morning "

"Oh! Yes Frank's girlfriend. Its a pleasure."

Biff Hooper." Biff said as he shook hands with Lina

Frank snapped out of his reverie at the mention of his name, he looked at Lina wondering how she knew Callie was his girlfriend. Then as if answering his thoughts Phil leaned towards him and whispered "I told her."

Frank just nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hey guys ! Look what I brought for you." Callie said as she gave Frank a gift wrapped in red, Phil a gift wrapped in green and Tony a gift wrapped in gold.

Phil and Tony started unwrapping their gifts , Frank just simply stared at his.

"You're supposed to be unwrapping it, you know ?" Joe murmured.

Frank just glared at him, but Joe maintained a steady gaze looking directly into his brother's eyes. He wasn't going to let Frank destroy Callie's mood after she went through the trouble of doing so much for her boyfriend. Finally, Frank gave up and slowly started unwrapping his gift.

Phil had received a book on various advanced computer applications and Tony had received a lot of international stamps for his stamp collection.

"Oh gosh! I really don't know what to say Callie this is really sweet of you" Tony said as he hugged her.

"Yeah!This is so cool!" Phil exclaimed excited.

"What about you Frank ? How do you like your gift ?" Callie asked

Frank had received books on the wonders of space, myths of space, Constellations and Famous astronomers and scientists.

"Thank you Callie" Frank said "its really what I would have bought for myself. I like it."

Callie smiled. Joe sighed in relief.

"Oh! Lina, there are some other gifts that I bought as extras in case I had forgotten someone in the neighborhood,...uh, just a second, its got to be here...Ah! Here!"

Callie pulled out box full of unwrapped antiques, designer handkerchiefs, lipsticks, vial of perfumes and powder compacts.

"Hmm. That's very nice of you Callie, if you don't mind I'll take that set of 150 safety pins."

"Safety pins, nice joke, you are funny and sarcastic"

"Oh! I wasn't being sarcastic. I really meant it when I said safety pins."

"Still kidding huh ?"

"Nope" Lina said serenely.

"Safety pins ?" Callie asked incredulously as she searched her box ; in the corner of the box there was a small pack of safety pins.

"Yes."

"Safety pins ? Safety pins ?" Joe and Vanessa asked together as if the fact had not been registered the first time. And then Joe broke out laughing,

"Oh ! God ! Safety pins, never have I ever seen a girl ask for safety pins when there are... when there are..." Joe broke out into a fit of laughter again "when there are accessories that every other girl in Bayport would want"

"You know, you are a part of our group now you can choose whatever you want" Phil said patting Lina on the back

"Yep. Phil is right Lina. You are a friend now." Biff said encouragingly.

"I know and I am choosing what I want. They are called safety pins for a reason you know ?" Lina said calmly.

"Alright. Here you go." Callie said as he tossed the pin pack to Lina. "You know, if you ever change your mind, tell me."

"So, Lina tell us about yourself." Biff said trying to start a casual conversation. "where are you living now ?"

"Walker's street. My house is two blocks away from the park"

"Two blocks away from the park ?" Joe asked nearly jumping out of his seat "Lucky goats ! Frank, did you hear that ? Con lives one block away from that park."

"He's right. Have you met him ? " Tony asked.

"You mean Officer Riley ?" Lina asked smiling.

"The one and only" Joe said grinning broadly.

"Aunt Martha says he's a charm for young women his age." Lina said.

"That he is." Joe agreed.

"What about your mum ?" Callie asked.

"Let's say she's building a world of her own on earth."

"Then what about your dad ?" asked Chet.

"He does his thing."

"What does he do ?" Vanessa asked.

"It changes according to his state of mind. His residence is somewhere in Pennsylvania. It doesn't make a difference though, he basically lives in a caged room. Occasionally, he gets out, learns something, does it, regrets it, runs and eventually goes back to his caged room for another heated thinking session on what to do next." Lina replied serenely.

"Woah ! That's some weird father you've got there." Joe replied.

"So you live with your aunt ?" Frank asked and basically everyone at the table nearly jumped off their seats at Frank's voice except Lina. He had been so silent the whole time that they hadn't even expected him to talk.

"Aunt Martha and Uncle John." Lina replied.

Frank didn't know why, but he felt compelled to ask that question. It was a weird feeling. Instinctively as he had been doing for the past six weeks he reached for his jeans pocket and took out a bottle. It was only then he registered the fact that he was around people and most importantly Joe. If Joe saw what he was doing, going to hell and looking into his family's faces would be the same. His hands had already started trembling. If Joe saw it he would be in hell of a trouble. He was also becoming restless and irritated. It won't be long before I pass out Frank thought. He tried to do what he had been practising the past six weeks; Imagine white rooms, shut out the voices, shut out the faces, move back into the white room, keep moving to the far end of the mind.

Frank wasn't sure how many minutes had gone by since he had dazed out but he was soon startled by his brother's voice.

"Frank, did you hear that ?" Joe asked excited about something. Frank glared at his brother annoyed. But Joe didn't seemed to have noticed his annoyance.

"Lina is interested in becoming a private investigator, like dad."

At first Frank was confused. He didn't really know how his dad's profession got pulled into the conversation, but then again he was dazed out the whole time.

"Was interested. " Lina corrected and serenely looked up at the ceiling as if reminiscing about old times

"Seriously ? You have no idea how cool that profession is. Coming to think about, it makes me wonder how Frank and I never thought of that. Right Frank."

"About what ?" Frank asked annoyed.

"Lina's idea, of course " Joe said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We could sharpen our skills the way she does"

"I am not sharpening anything Joe, its just a form of entertainment when you see Sherlock Holmes."

"Its brilliant !" Biff and Vanessa exclaimed.

"What idea ?" Frank asked annoyed yet curious.

" Lina watches these crime investigation channels and tries

to figure who the murderer or the thief is before the show reveals it themselves." Callie explained calmly.

Frank had to admit it was a brilliant exercise to the mind.

"You have to come home one day, dad would be surprised." Joe said.

The bell soon rang indicating that lunch period had ended.

...

Frank knew he had to get his locker fast. He stumbled out of his class room and dashed past a few juniors in a hurry. He stumbled again and nearly fell if an arm hadn't caught him.

"You alright ?" Lina asked.

Frank looked at her in surprise. There was no way she could have caught up to him so fast.

"Ye...yeah." Frank stammered.

"What do you want ?"he asked a bit harshly than he had intended. He winced at his own tone. It was the effect of the drugs, he couldn't help it. But Lina didn't happen to show any expression of hurt or anger.

"You left this." she said and held out his physics book.

"Oh! umm... thanks."

"You're welcome." she said serenely and disappeared into the crowd that was slowly forming as the last bell had been given.

Frank stumbled again. He was starting to feel lightheaded. Everything seemed doubled to his eyesight and his legs were feeling weak. He nearly fell face first again, only this time Joe caught him.

"Frank ? What happened ? Are you ill ?" Joe asked in concern.

"I'm fine." Frank snapped at his brother "what do you want ?"

"I just came to tell you that I've got practice today."

"Fine." Frank mumbled struggling to maintain consciousness.

"Hey, I can cut practice if you want me to take you to doc..."

"Oh! Shut up and mind your own damn business Joe, I said I am fine" Frank snapped loudly.

Callie, Biff, Tony, Vanessa, Chet and Phil joined the brothers at that moment.

"Frank, Joe was just..." Callie began

"What part of 'I am fine' don't you people understand ?" Frank shouted.

"But Frank..." Chet started.

"Oh shut up!" Frank shouted loudly, causing students to turn in their direction.

" , is something wrong ?" Their Math teacher Mr. Ronald , asked strictly.

"No. " Frank replied and he ran out of the school before anyone could question him.

He lost track on how long he had run, he kept running and a familiar sense of déjà vu filled him. This was exactly how he had felt when he was escaping that wretched lunatic. Memories flooded him. Frank collapsed near an alley, not even bothering to find out where he was. The man's blood was in his hands. Frank tried to stay awake, but soon he gave in to the darkness.

Frank didn't know how long he stayed unconscious until he felt someone shaking him. He tried to push that person away.

"Please Frank, don't push me away, I am trying to help you."

Frank tried to speak but he wasn't able to open his mouth.

"You'll die here Frank."

It took a few moments for Frank's sub conscious mind to know that it was a girl's voice.

The girl put a hand around his back and pulled his other hand to her shoulders steadying him.

Frank didn't know for how long but the last thing he knew was, he was being placed upon some concrete and he heard some gong sound in the distance.


	2. Weird occurences

**Author's note : This chapter is based on the O.C . The friendship between Frank and Lina develops here. The next chapter is when Joe really begins to understand Frank's situation is not how it seems to be. If this chapter is a bit borring, please say so. All criticisms are welcome.**

Chapter - 2

Frank woke with a start, surprising his mother. He looked around. He was in his own room, in his own bed and his mother was sitting next to him startled.

"Oh! Frank, thank God you're awake." Laura said hugging her son. "I was worried sick." She kissed her son's forehead.

"What happened ?" Frank asked, confused. He remembered running out of school in anger and then he passed out somewhere near an alley, so how did he land up here?

"You passed out on our doorstep, honey." Laura said running her fingers through Frank's hair.

"Our doorstep ?" Frank asked surprised.

"Yes. Don't you remember ?"

Frank let his head rest on the head board of his cot. Frank was sure he had passed out near an alley.

"Is something wrong Frank ?" his mother asked, in concern when Frank dazed out.

"no, mom."

"Should I call your dad ?" Laura asked.

"No"

"You realize he's worried right ?"

Frank didn't answer. He just wanted to retreat back to his own world.

"Frank ?" His mother called again.

"Mom ! I'm fine, just leave me alone."

"You weren't fine few minutes ago Frank." His mother pointed out. "what's wrong Frank ? You can talk to us. If you don't feel comfortable with us, then at least talk to Joe. He's been with you through every thing, son. I don't know why you're pushing your brother away. He's worried about your new behaviour. He just doesn't show it. He's trying to talk upbeat for you Frank. I do hope you wouldn't push your brother away, after every thing you boys have shared. Joe said you fought with him in school. Please Frank..."

Sighing deeply, Laura Hardy , turned off the lights and left Frank to his thoughts.

Frank just got frustrated. Like they knew what he was going through. He wanted to pick something and smash it on someone's head. Oh! God! Why did he have to remember that, I am turning mad he thought. Frank slowly closed his eyes trying to shut everything else except his thoughts. He tried to remember. He felt like he was missing a piece in the puzzle. And suddenly, it was as if some force had turned the wheels in Frank's head. The memories flooded him. The girl, he thought. A girl had brought him here. Frank's first thought was Callie , then he realized Callie could not have had the strength to pull him up like that. It certainly can't be Vanessa either because she was with Joe in practice and also Vanessa would always call Joe if something happened to him. He reached up to the drawer in his night stand table and pulled out the journal and started writing in it. It was a new habit he had developed just like the drugs, only writing accounts of the day was harmless. Usually he would confide in his brother who used to be his best friend, but now since he had no one to talk to, he had decided he would maintain a journal. His first instinct was to turn on the light, but he thought better of it. So, he started writing in the dark, much easier that way. This again was one of the many skills he had practiced over the past six weeks.

...

"Yeah. The doorstep, I know its weird." Joe said to his girlfriend over the cellphone.

"Did you call the doctor ?"

" No, Vanessa. Dad said he'll take care of it. Like, find out what's wrong with Frank first."

"You remember what happened during lunch, right ?"

"Yeah, Van, I do." Joe said, sighing deeply

"Its not a good sign, Joe. He should not daze out like that. Its like he is not aware of the outside world."

"Babe, I totally agree with you. But he's shutting me out. You saw how he acted earlier in the evening."

"Try again. For Callie and all of us. Joe , if there is anyone in this world who can get to Frank, then that's you." Vanessa told her boyfriend.

"Alright. I think he's awake. I heard mom close the door to his room. I'll try talking to him." Joe said.

"Good luck and Good night Joe" Vanessa wished her boyfriend.

"Good night to you too babe" Joe said and hung up.

Joe entered the common bathroom the brothers shared and opened Frank's door.

"Frank" Joe whispered. No answer. Slowly Joe made his way near Frank's bed.

"Frank" Joe whispered again as he slowly tried to wake his brother up.

He's really asleep thought Joe. Joe was about to turn when he accidentally lost his balance and landed hard on the floor. He cautiously sat up, to his surprise Frank was still sleeping. His brother was usually a light sleeper and would wake up to the slightest noise. Joe thanked his stars that Frank was asleep, or he would've hated what was coming. He was about to get up, when, something near Frank's pillow caught his attention; an envelope. Joe gently took it from under the pillow. If Frank knew, he would sure as hell get into trouble, but Joe wanted to risk it.

The envelope was already open, so, Joe didn't need to tear it open. He took out the envelope and with the light of his phone underneath Frank's cot he read.

"My classic brother" Joe muttered. Frank's envelope didn't make sense. It read,

 _ **nt kudw ua p suaparwe. U psnur swdwpr. Okwpaw, kwpcw nt dpnukt iyr I'd rgua.**_

Joe could tell it was a code. He would have to sit and work it out. He quickly went to Frank's desk to take a pencil. It was dark, but Joe could tell where his brother would usually keep a pen stand. To his surprise when Joe felt for it wasn't there. He groped for it but only felt a pile of books. Joe was shocked. Frank never kept his room this untidy. Joe didn't dare use his phone. Frank's table was a mess. Finally, Joe was able to find a pen from underneath the pile of books. He turned around to check if Frank was still sleeping, satisfied he turned back and struggling in the dark, he finally wrote the message in his palm. He placed the envelope back underneath Frank's pillow and went back to his room.

Now to decipher it he thought. Joe spent hours writing the message on paper trying different techniques to decipher it. Finally he got tired. It was three a.m. in the morning. Guess, I'll give it to Phil, he thought. He put his work into his bag, turned off the lights and went to sleep. I'll know what's going on Frank. I'll know why you're behaving weird, he kept thinking and drifted off into a dreamless slumber.

...

The day hadn't started right for Frank. First thing in the morning, he had to endure a question and answer session from his father, the famous private investigator, Fenton Hardy. It had annoyed Frank to a very great extent. He became tetchy soon enough and Joe was finding it quite difficult to concentrate with Frank snapping at him at every turn.

"we'll get there Frank. " Joe assured his brother.

"Get there ? We won't get there at all with you driving. We will be taking the express train to damned heaven." Frank retorted harshly.

God! Joe thought, I am already in hell. I see almost no glory in heaven. It was at that moment, Joe felt that the Gods had been kind to him. Walking further down the road was Lina, the gang's new member. Yesterday, Lina's uncle, had been kind enough to invite them all for dinner. He'd said Lina hardly made friends in China and he was happy to have kind folk for dinner at his house. Lina's aunt Martha was a lean, kind energetic woman, who was overjoyed by the prospect of having her niece like daughter's friends at her house. Frank was the only person who had missed the gathering. Such a shame , thought Joe.

"Hey ! Lina ! Want a lift." Joe called out to her. He actually wanted to shut his brother's mouth, and Lina was his lifeline.

"Oh ! Hello Joe." Lina said pleasantly. "I have a feeling I might reach faster if I walk. So, I'll walk"

She wore the same kind of dress she had worn the previous day with the same hairstyle. Only thing her loose top was light blue.

"You're kidding right. No one can out run a car, Lina" Joe said laughing.

"We shall see." Lina said serenely.

"Lina , seriously, come on, we'll drop you."

" I'll reach faster if I walk." Lina replied again serenely.

"Fine. I'm betting five bucks." Joe said, forgetting how Lina was supposed to be his lifeline. He was energetic about the new challenge. Classic Joe Hardy, never turns down a challenge.

Frank couldn't believe his brother had taken a stupid challenge seriously. He too like Joe didn't believe Lina could outrun a car. But unfortunately, fate had it another way, the Hardys got caught up in an early morning traffic jam. It now didn't seem like Lina had to out run a car, it seemed like the car had to outrun Lina. By the time Joe had parked the car in the van's usual parking spot, Lina had already reached and was talking to Tony, Biff, Callie and Vanessa. Even Frank was surprised. There was no way Lina could've known about a traffic jam.

"How did you do that ?" Joe asked the surprise not leaving his voice.

"Do what, Joe ?"

"The whole, I'll get there faster if I walk thing."

"Seriously, Joe ? " Vanessa asked giving her boyfriend an incredulous look.

"She did it." Joe said pointing at Lina "she told us that she'd reach fast if she walked, while Frank and I drove. We got stuck in the jam and she reached."

Frank had to admit he too was surprised by that.

"intuition, Joe." Lina said serenely "very essential, I believe, for detective work."

"You mean Mr. Intuition told you there was going to be a traffic jam" Joe asked incredulous over the idea.

"intuition does not work like that, Joe. It's a feeling in your gut. An example is, you might have a feeling that someone whom you love is in danger, but you don't know what kind of danger." Lina replied calmly.

Joe instantly knew that kind of feeling. It was a feeling he usually had when Frank was in danger. Suddenly, it was like he was talking to someone who knew how he was feeling. He could feel that warmth from Lina, just like he felt it with rest of the gang.

"I've felt that before." Joe said looking at Frank but Frank didn't seem to be listening at all. But Vanessa gave Joe a knowing look.

Lina couldn't have been more right , Joe thought. He smiled at her and she smiled back; the same serene smile.

...

Frank couldn't believe he had forgotten about his Calculus test. He kept running his fingers through his hair in nervousness , a trait he'd inherited from his father. His paper was half blank. A disastrous record for Frank Hardy. He kept tapping his pencil on the desk in frustration. He looked at his watch in frustration, there were five more minutes for the day's school to end. At that moment something he didn't expect, happened. Lina shoved her paper to his desk. Frank looked at her quizzically but Lina was serenely looking up at the ceiling as if it was an 18th century master piece. Deciding he at least had to get a B , Frank did something he had never done before in his life. He copied answers to a few questions. Halfway through, his conscience started bugging him and he gave up. He quickly passed the paper back to Lina. Thank God! Phil and Tony weren't seeing this, he thought . He gave Lina, a small smile of gratitude. She smiled back at him. Frank noticed she was playing with the box of pins that Callie had given her. Sometimes, Lina did drive him curious. Box of pins; Frank couldn't understand why she had chosen pins. Either way, he decided it wasn't worth the talk. But still he felt Lina mysterious in a different way, he couldn't explain. He felt calm around her. He felt like he didn't have anything to be worried of. It was like all the pain he had for six weeks were melting away. This is crazy, he thought. Soon the bell rang indicating it was the end of school.

...

The history teacher, Old Ms. Doddery was asleep and the class was having a time of their life except Joe, Vanessa, Callie, Biff and Chet who were breaking their heads over Frank's coded letter.

"Maybe, it doesn't mean anything at all." Biff said frustrated.

"That's not possible. I don't think Frank would take the trouble to put it in an envelope and keep it under his pillow if it wasn't important." Joe replied.

"Joe is right." Callie said. "Frank doesn't do anything without importance."

"So, do you guys really think that two lines would convey Frank's present situation ?" Vanessa questioned.

"Nope. I don't think so. It would only give us a hint." Callie answered.

"Joe, what really happened ? You haven't actually told us that." Chet said looking up from his piece of worked out paper.

Joe sighed. His mind was debating on various possibilities. He knew his friends deserved to know. But that would also mean, his brother would turn to Darth Vader for a whole month. Finally, Joe decided he'd rather suffer his brother's wrath than lie to his friends. If Frank doesn't tell the truth, then he would have to, or he would be no different from his brother.

"Ok. So, you guys know Frank went to the exhibition in Kansas right?" Joe asked. They nodded.

"and you guys also know that Frank was supposed to arrive in the evening on June 15th right ?" They nodded again.

"Well, this was what happened. I was running errands for mom, in the morning, on June 15th, and suddenly I received a phone call from mom saying something had happened to Frank. I rushed to Bayport General and crashed right into Con. He was freaking out. He told me that he saw Frank in Walker's street while he was attending to a noise complaint in the neighborhood. He said Frank was weak and had passed out almost immediately. I rushed to Frank's ward , he was unconscious. Dr. Bates told mom that Frank had been tortured by someone. Mom called dad and dad rushed home. He too confirmed Frank to have been tortured and then..." Joe wasn't able to continue.

"Joe, what happened after that ?" Vanessa asked gently.

"He woke up... He woke up and... well, he just got mad at all of us. Guys ! I'm really not ready to talk about what Frank told us." Joe said abruptly.

"Its alright man. We can understand." Biff said comfortingly.

"You can skip that part." Callie said helpfully.

"You won't mind ?" Joe asked.

"Of course not."

"Alright then, Dad tried to get him to talk , but he wouldn't tell a thing about who kidnapped him or what happened or how he landed in Bayport in the morning ."

"That's weird. I thought you said Kansas didn't have a flight to Bayport until 3:00 p.m. How did Frank reach in the morning then ?" Chet asked.

"That's the million dollar question." Joe said snapping his fingers.

"Wait, what if Frank was kidnapped in Kansas and brought here somehow." Callie asked, her brows all furrowed in concern.

"We'll have to be very patient, if we're gonna figure this out." Vanessa said as a matter of fact.

"What else has Frank been doing ?" Biff asked

"Nothing. He just doesn't act as if he is a member of the family. If dad asks him something, he gets mad. He walks out in the night and comes back only in the morning and it drove mom worried sick the first few weeks."

"I'm worried we'll lose him to some sort of stress or trauma or something." Chet said quietly.

"We must give it to Phil, when Frank's not around. Maybe, he'll be able to figure it out." Vanessa said

"And Tony too. We don't know when Tony gets his phenomenal brain wave." Joe added and everyone laughed. It was true, Tony would have brilliant ideas in gaps, maybe while cooking, or while in the shower, or while doing homework, or while climbing a tree. The group's jovial mood ended when the bell rang indicating the end of school.

"Oh! God! We've got practice." Chet groaned when students started filing out of class.

...

Frank popped two more tablets from his pill bottle into his mouth and tucked the bottle back into his pocket. Phil and Lina were in a deep discussion about the answers.

"You okay." Tony asked walking beside him at that moment, and Frank thanked his stars, a moment later, and Tony would've noticed.

"Yeah" Frank replied simply.

"You're coming to watch the practice sessions right ?"

"No choice."

They walked in silence again. Phil and Lina following behind, still discussing.

"how'd you do ?" Tony asked again

Frank froze. He hoped Tony wouldn't have to know what he had done.

"Well" he lied.

"Bravo ! " Tony said patting Frank on the back.

"Guys ! Over here!" Vanessa called out to Frank, Phil, Tony and Lina.

"Phew !" Phil remarked as he slumped down next to Frank and Callie.

Lina and Tony sat in separate chairs in the gym.

Biff, Chet and Joe were doing heavy workout being on the boxing team.

"96..97..98...99...100." Biff finished and allowed Joe a chance with the weights.

"Think you can do it ?" Biff asked teasingly.

Joe smirked and said "piece of cake."

"Get on with it Hardy !" Their coach shouted at him from the other corner of the room.

"Hooper ! Push ups." The coach yelled. "Morton ! You too !"

"But coach..." Chet was about to protest.

"Morton ! If you don't want to get beaten up into tomato sauce by those Barrinston giants, then get on with it !"

The reference to 'tomato sauce' and 'giants' stirred Chet and he started working out on his push ups next to Biff.

"How do you guys even pick those weights ?" Tony asked looking at Joe heaving it.

"50...51...52... Muscle power man ! 53...54..." Joe kept continuing his count.

"Muscle power, please." Phil said uninterested.

"60...61...62...63... All you need is power in your arms, if you have that you win." Joe said and started again.

"Power of the mind." Lina said dreamily.

"Excuse me... 69...70..." Joe said keeping the weights down for a break.

"Power of mind, not arms." Lina said again.

"You're joking. What is the mind gonna do ?" Biff asked still doing his push ups.

"Many things" Lina said.

"Lina, you can't be serious about the whole saintly mind power thing." Joe said and continued his lifting.

"It's true." Lina said again.

"He's right Lina, its not possible if you don't have muscle." Phil said .

"Mind." Lina said again.

"98...99...100... Lina, its ridiculous." Joe said again, as he put the lifts back and got up.

"We've been training for ages." Chet added

"Mind power, always helps." Lina replied.

"alright, if you're preaching so much about mind power, why don't you show us how it can be done. " Joe said back.

"Fine." Lina replied, serenely as before.

Joe nearly lost his balance while standing. He had expected to see some fear in Lina's eyes, but all he saw was serenity. She had accepted his challenge.

"You can't do it." Chet said huffing and puffing.

Lina just stood up from her chair. Stretched herself.

"Lina, what are you doing ?" Callie asked, finally aware that a real deal was going on here.

"Weight lifting." was Lina's simple answer.

"Lina , No!" Vanessa cried. " you'll hurt yourself.

Even Frank seemed to be aware of the situation. Callie gave Joe a death glare for his stupid challenge. Lina lay down ready to pick up the weight when Joe shouted

"Carter's wheels ! What in the name of hell are you doing ?"

Phil and Tony were looking aghast. Lina had lost her mind they thought. Biff and Chet frantically looked around for their coach, but he was no where to be seen.

"Lina stop... It was a joke. I really didn't mean to..." Joe stopped in mid sentence.

"Mighty Jesus ! Freaking thorns ! What in the world ?" A kid exclaimed from the other side of the room.

Joe's jaw dropped to the floor. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He thought Callie and Vanessa would faint at the sight.

"Oh! My God !" Phil and Biff exclaimed. The entire gym turned silent.

"Oh! God! LINA !" Frank exclaimed again and was surprised with himself.

"What in the bloody hell is going on in here ?" Yelled the coach making entrance at the critical moment.

"HOLY GOATS !" yelled the coach in horror and surprise "BLOODY DENNIS ! WHAT IS SHE DOING ?" yelled the coach and passed out on the spot.

Joe didn't know if he was dreaming, he pinched himself multiple times. Lina had proved her point. He was seeing the girl he had met yesterday do weight lifting without breaking a sweat...

Lina put the weights down and got up. She smiled as if she had received candies for Halloween.

"Did it go well ?" Lina asked calmly.

Joe just looked at her stunned. "How di...di...did...you..do that ?" Joe stammered. Suddenly for him Lina was his role model. Callie and Vanessa stood with the same aghast expression. Phil and Tony were standing there wondering if they must cheer for their new best friend or cry out of joy, because she made it out alive. Biff and Chet were red in the face. Obviously wrecked by the fact that they had to practice all year while a girl had taken the lifts without breaking a sweat. It was like they were standing in front of the Goddess of weight lifting in all her glory. Frank, well , for Frank it was like he had made the discovery of the century. His mind exploded. It was like, finally, he knew what it was like when Einstein discovered the equation of relativity, or when Graham Bell discovered telephone or when Archimedes discovered the Archimedes principle. He had to resist the urge to shout 'Eureka !' or 'Lineka !' Whatever. Frank finally filled the missing puzzle in his mind.

"Power of the mind, Joe." Lina said. " oh! What happened to coach ?" She asked innocently.

"He kind of passed at out, halfway through your stunt. It isn't everyday he gets to see lanky girls do weight lifting." Chet replied awed.

"OK. Show's over people. Someone get coach to the nurse's office." Joe shouted. He knew it would only be a matter of time, before the news starts spreading like wildfire.

"Guys! let's get out of here." Joe said packing up his things. He pulled Lina behind him and the others followed him out to the soccer field.

"How ?" Biff asked Lina once they were away from the gym. It would take next morning for the other boxers to tell their girlfriends and it would spread. Thank God ! It was after school practice.

"Mind." Lina answered.

"You can't just wish for it to happen with your mind, you know ?" Vanessa said.

"It isn't wishing Vanessa, it is willing. You decide you're going to do something, then you put your mind and heart into it."

"But, still how did you do that ?" Phil asked. His mind was probably running through super human possibilities like Batman, Spiderman, superman etc...

"Tell me Joe, how many times have you and Frank had near death experiences. " Lina asked looking up at the sky. Frank kept looking at her like a prey, he was about to pounce on.

"Well, many times."

"and how many times have you saved Frank. ?"

"Well, many times, again."

" tell me, how many people want to do what you do ?"

"I don't know. Many people think its cool, but its not. Its dangerous. I've had to pull myself up many times to save Frank, and Frank has done the same thing many times for me." Joe replied looking at Frank. He remembered all those times when they were together and the cases they had solved. But now it seemed like everything had evaporated.

"That's it ! You build up determination to save your brother. You put your mind and heart to just save him. At that moment you don't care what happens to you. Your entire energy is focused on saving him. At that moment you forget pain. Its also just like concentrating on a book and not being aware of the world around you. You even pass fire in these situations and not know it." Lina replied.

The word 'fire' sent Callie to another world. She knew what Lina was talking about. She remembered a case she had helped Frank on six months back. She had to pull him out of a burning warehouse, when he had been knocked out. Most days she would think about how she had managed to pull him out, when she herself had been injured. She was in the verge of losing consciousness that day, and yet she knew none of the pain until she had saved Frank. She smiled at Lina, she was speaking from her heart. Even Joe and the others were in deep thought. All of them had helped the Hardys on cases. And many times they all had scrapes. It was like they had just discovered a power within them.

" so, all those times Frank, dad and I escaped wasn't luck ?" Joe asked. It was a question that nagged him. When would the Hardy family luck run out ?

Lina shook her head. "It wasn't luck. It was the power of the mind and heart. When you put your mind and heart into something, you succeed. Most of us do it when we're emotional. Some others they do it almost all the time. Just need to practice."

"China, really teaches you the saintly stuff huh ? Never believed in it. Well until now of course." Vanessa said hugging Lina. "You know, we would have been devastated if something had happened to you, on your second day."

Lina just smiled.

"Okay then , let's get going. The boxers are out." Tony pointed out.

They got up to go back to their houses. "you want a ride." Joe asked.

" I love to walk." Was Lina's reply.

"That girl is weird." Joe said laughing and earned a glare from Vanessa. "What ? In a good way. Weird in a good, mysterious way."

"Oh! Joe." Vanessa groaned.

Joe entered the van and looked eexpectantly at Frank.

"I'll walk." Frank said quietly.

"What ?..." Joe was about to protest but received a glare from Frank that silenced him. He knew that look. It was a look that said, going for Darth Vader mode. Joe silently started up the van and left. Frank took after Lina, he was determined to know, why? He soon caught up with her and pulled her aside.

"Stop." he said.

"Oh! Frank ."

"It was you, yesterday." Frank said before Lina could ask him anything. "You pulled me from that alley and left me at my house. I recognize your voice now and after that weight lifting thing, it had to be you."

Frank looked at Lina as if expecting her to say something. When she didn't say anything he continued. "How did you know where my house is ? How did you know where I was ? Why did you save me ? Why did you show me the answer sheet today ?"

Again Lina just looked at him as if she was amused. Frank looked at her expecting her to talk.

"Say something" he shouted shaking her by the shoulders.

"Answer to question no. 1 , Joe told me yesterday , during lunch, when you were spending half your time shut up inside your mind. Answer to question no. 2 You were not well, when you left the school, you were taking the direction to the abandoned warehouse district so I wanted to warn you, they say thugs live there. Answer to question no. 3 , humanity. Answer to question no. 4, drug addiction is common among students like us these days, you must stop." she finished dreamily.

Frank was stunned. There was no way she could've known that.

"You too." Frank said

"Oh! Me , no. Certainly not. Never have done before." Lina said walking. Frank rushed to catch up with her.

"How did you know ?" Frank asked harshly.

"You were, getting angry easily."

"I am short tempered."

"You are not." Lina said.

"How can you tell ?" Frank asked her again.

"People talk about different tthings. Officer Riley talked about you and Joe, said you were the logical and calm one. He told us that yesterday when he came to help aunty with the faucet

Frank had turned red. He couldn't understand how this could happen. He felt like he wanted to strangle Lina.

"I won't tell anyone though." Lina said as if reading Frank's thoughts.

"Why won't you ?" Frank asked back.

"Its your decision to talk to your family. Your brother and friends are worried. I might be new, so I may not have the right to get worried. But what you're doing is not worth it."

Frank felt like he had been hit with a rock. Did Lina know something about him ? He kept thinking. His thoughts were interrupted when she spoke again.

"Think about it, Callie loves you deeply. She is patient, funny and pretty. She is worried and wants to know whatever is troubling you because she loves you. Its rare to find such perfect relationships in such a world of chaos. Then comes Joe, your best friend, brother, life saver, another half..." Lina trailed off as if reminiscing how it would be if she had a brother.

"Its extremely rare to find two brothers who care for each other. Its a silver lining , a golden opportunity, given by life to enjoy the company of a brother. Joe understands you because if you are hurt then he is hurt, if you shut him out, then its like absence. Like he doesn't have an arm or something."

Frank suddenly felt the warmth. Of course, how could you do this to your brother Frank ? He kept asking himself and remembered the darkness within him. No. No. No. Joe hates you, he thought. Frank thought about his other friends. They all were Joe's friends first, he was introduced to them later. Will they understand the misery. No. They wouldn't, the small voice told him.

He looked at Lina, she seemed calm as always.

"How are you so calm ?" Frank asked.

"Meditation. It helps." Lina said smiling at Frank.

Frank didn't know what got over him, he just blurted it out.

"Will you teach me ?"

"Whenever you feel really confused, yeah !" Lina said.

"Friends then." Frank said and held out his hand.

"I thought we already were. Friends anyway." Lina said and shook Frank's hand. Frank could feel a sense of calm. Something he hasn't had since the past six weeks. He'd made a best friend for the first time. Even with Phil, it was Phil who had come to him first. Same went for Tony. The only times he actually spoke for himself was to tell Callie he loved her, and now for the first time in ages, he had made a new friend.

"This is me." Lina said when they came close to Walker's street.

"Bye! Frank, take care." She said hugging him.

"Bye Lina." He said back. It was an all too familiar feeling, the feeling he had when Joe hugged him or to put it in other words, the feeling of true friendship.

Frank walked on thinking about what Lina had told him. He knew he was feeling traumatized, but he didn't want Joe or the others to see it. He knew Lina hadn't just guessed it because of his temper. He felt a mystery lying beyond his new best friend. What it was, he didn't know.

Frank didn't notice the shadows lurking behind him.

 _"That girl ! Is she...?" The first man asked._

 _"I'm not sure, I only handled the other kid." The second man answered._

 _"Well then, in that case, where is that boy going ? I thought that boy was supposed to be in a mental health faculty." the first man said again._

 _"You idiot ! That's Frank Hardy, not the other boy." Snapped the second man._

 _"What happened to the other boy ?" asked the first man._

 _"The other one, it was almost six years ago, put up a fight, that one. Went to the extent of driving the boss mad. Courageous one. Fought like life and death. Anyway boss drove the kid insane somehow, and now that one's in an asylum."_

 _"So who's this kid ?" asked the first man._

 _"Son of Fenton Hardy. Not much of a fight. But clever. Escaped from the boss last time." replied the second man. "Every one fall prey to the boss. This Hardy kid too is breaking. Kid is already using drugs. Same like the other boy."_

 _"How old was the other boy ?" asked the first man._

 _"Two years younger than this one. Sixteen years old. Now that boy is twenty one ." Replied the second man "quit talking now, we have to plant the message."_


	3. The drastic change in Frank Hardy

**Chapter - 3**

 **To,**

 **Fenton Hardy,**

 **"We kill the mind "**

 **\- Figure it out.**

Fenton Hardy read the letter for the hundredth time. Nothing. He looked at the pale face of his son. Frank was sitting in the couch of their living room, caressing his shoulder unconsciously. Frank had been in the hospital for three days and had been discharged recently. Three days back, while returning from school , Frank had been attacked by an arrow which hit his shoulder. The tip of the arrow held a message and now that message had made the Hardy household lose their sleep for three days.

"Frank. Son, please... tell us what is troubling you. " Fenton asked again for the thousandth time in the past three days. Frank remained silent and paler than usual.

"Frank ?"

Frank didn't answer again. The letter, one could say had driven him to the depths of insanity. Frank knew exactly what the letter meant. He had been through it. The whole thing. He had thought of telling Joe after his earlier conversation with Lina but the wounds that were near healing were opened again. He couldn't believe it. The others, they were after him, he thought. It couldn't be the same man.

The father and son conversation was interrupted by the phone ringing and Frank heaved a sigh of relief.

"Frank its for you. Its Callie." his mom told him.

Frank quickly got up and went to the phone, eager to get away from his father.

"Frank ?" came Callie's voice through the phone "ho..how are you ?"

"Fine." was Frank's reply.

"Your shoulder, does it still hurt ?" Callie asked

"A bit." Frank replied. The only honest answer he had given Callie so far.

"Lina is...umm... bringing your notes to copy." Callie replied.

"Alright." Frank said. Though in his mind he was actually happy Lina was coming.

"Did you get our get well letters ?"

"Oh ! Yeah. Thanks Callie. It really helped." Frank lied. In reality he hadn't even opened the pack of letters.

"Great !"

"Alright then see you later." Frank said

"See you too."

Frank came to sit back again regretting hanging up on Callie so soon but it seemed like luck was on his side. He had reached the couch and was about to sit down when the door bell rang. He looked at the watch. It was 4: 30 p.m. Callie had said Joe would arrive with Lina. He went to the door and opened it.

"Ta ta da" Joe said as he made a very comical entrance.

Frank just shook his head. Behind Joe was Lina. She was carrying a bundle of books in a bag. Frank went to help her carry.

"Its alright. I can do it. I carried the weights remember." She said and winked. " besides you're the won with a bad shoulder."

"Dad , let me present to you Lina" Joe said pointing to Lina in a dramatical 18th century way.

"It's a pleasure to meet you dear." Fenton replied shaking hands with the younger girl.

"The pleasure's all mine , Mr. Hardy." Lina said smiling.

"Dad, guess what ? Lina wants to become an investigator like you" Joe said.

"really ?" Fenton asked looking at Lina. "That's pretty wonderful. Do you have any relatives who are in the profession ?"

"No, Mr. Hardy "

"I see..."

"Dad. Lina watches these crime investigation channels and tries to figure who the murderer or the thief is before the show reveals it themselves. How cool is that ?" Joe said excited at the new idea.

"hmm. That's not a bad idea. How many times have you succeeded ?" Fenton asked curious now. He himself had never thought of the idea to sharpen his skills.

"sometimes. "

"Interesting."

"oh! for the love of God, don't turn that poor girl into agent Carter aldready." Aunt Gertrude huffed and entered the living room with four glasses of orange juice.

"Oh! Aunty, we know you love what we do." Joe said hugging his aunt.

"Love what you do ! " aunt Gertrude exclaimed "I haven't had peaceful sleep in this house for as long as I remember."

"Alright Gertrude. Let's leave the kids to talk." Fenton told his sister as he picked up his juice and walked to his study room.

In reply aunt Gertrude just mumbled something not recognizable and walked away.

"So that's that." Joe said plopping down on the couch. "So brother how was your day in this prison ?"

Frank didn't answer . He just glared at his brother. Situations were getting complicated between him and Joe day by day. And though he felt bad for it and wanted to correct it, he felt keeping it the same way would be better in recent circumstances.

"Frank ?"

"Huh ? What ?" he hadn't realized that his brother was asking him something.

"Tomorrow is Sunday, the others are planning to go to the mall, you coming ?" Joe asked.

Frank was about to say yes in an instinct, but then he realized something.

"No." he said and looked at Lina who still had the serene expression on her. He knew she had seen right through him. Tomorrow he had to get to his dealer, if he was going to ace any of his tests the following week.

"Oh ! Alright." Joe said a bit ddisappointed but soon regained his older self.

"Anyway, Lina you're coming right ?"

"I'd love to." Lina said.

Frank looked surprised. He had marked Lina to be the kind of girl who stayed simple.

"Do you always wear the same kind of dress ?" Frank asked her. Lina was wearing the same loose top and pants only a different colour and her hair was tied up in a bun the same hairstyle.

"Oh ! Yes. I love this kind of dress." Lina replied.

"You do realize the malls that we're going to, tomorrow do not have such kinds of old fashioned dresses. " Joe said.

"Oh! I simply buy the light colour cotton material and Aunty stitches the dress for me." Lina replied happily.

It is impossible to stay stressed out with this girl, Frank thought. Lina remained calm all the time. She had the same serene smile on her at all times.

"So what happened in school the other day ?" Frank asked, suddenly remembering the weight lifting incident.

"Oh ! Yeah !" Joe shouted nearly making Frank jump off his seat "Coach kept claiming that he had seen the greatest supernatural miracle in history. The guys, well they are now scared to come anywhere near her." Joe said briefly.

Frank looked at Lina and gave her a short smile.

"Oh! didn't mean to scare them. Anyway never mind." Lina said admiring the interior decorations of the Hardy household.

"Anyway, I'm going to get something to eat. You guys do your geek thing" Joe said and he went to the kitchen side.

"Here you go, Phil's computer and Chemistry book, Tony's Spanish note and English work book and my Physics and civics notebook." Lina said taking the notebooks one by one out of her bag. "Phil's aunt is in town and Tony had to help his father out"

"Yeah." Frank said looking out of the window with a weird expression.

"What's wrong Frank ?"

"umm. Nothing." he said quickly and turned back.

...

"Did you send the message ?"

"Yes boss. Fenton Hardy has got the message." replied the first man.

"Valder, you've been with me the longest, you know how things work don't you ?"

"Yes boss." replied Valder.

"and you..." the boss said pointing to the other man "make sure there is no mistake. I don't take kindly to mistakes."

"Ye...yyes Boss." the other man stammered.

"Valder, I want you to observe that Hardy. Make sure he breaks like hell."

"As you wish, sir."

"and also, see the people he hangs out with,- a girlfriend, a best friend or his brother... Yes ! His brother. Joseph Hardy isn't it ? He'll make a wonderful bait."

"Yes sir."

"Go now. Make no mistake."

"Valder, which Hardy are we supposed to observe ?" asked the other man , once they were out of their boss's earshot.

"Francis, you're an idiot. Frank Hardy of course."

"The cops are already on us for our last stunt remember." the man called Francis said.

"You stupid fool ! The cops only know that Hardy was attacked, they don't know who did it." replied Valder. "We have to get him soon. The Boss has plans for that kid."

...

Joe had purposefully stepped out of his brother's way. He felt confident that Lina would keep his brother engaged, not that he had asked for it or because she had said so. He felt Lina wouldn't understand his brother's situation, because unlike the others, Lina didn't know that the Hardy's had a way of charming trouble to their side. Joe had spent the last half hour, trying to find something useful to decipher his brother's situation, but came out with almost nothing. Joe was about to give up when a blue envelope under his brother's table caught his attention. He pulled it out and took the paper inside it. The handwriting wasn't familiar to Joe but it had a list of names none of which was familiar to him except the last one.

 **James Harrington - January - 1 month**

 **Leonard Alexander - February - 1 month**

 **Fanny Porter - December - 5 months**

 **Anna Martin - July - 3 months**

 **Emmanuel Horace - January - 4 months**

 **Jim Carter - September - 3 months**

 **Adam Hendrick - January - 1 month**

 **Alan Johnson. - June - 2 and a half years**

 **David Becky - January - 2 months**

 **Lance Hanson - September - 1 month**

 **Mary Matthew - August - 7 months**

 **Mark Matthew - August - 7 months**

 **James Colt - September - 8 months**

 **Marah Colt - September - 8 months**

 **Franklin Hardy**

Joe didn't know what the months or the number of months stood for but he could tell, whatever it was it wasn't nice. There was nothing near Frank's name and that was a relief to Joe. He quickly took a crushed paper from the dustbin and started writing the names on the paper. Joe didn't know why there was a huge dash underneath Frank's name but still he put it in the paper. Joe could feel his heart rate getting faster. Millions of questions passed through his mind. Why did Frank have this list ? Why did the list have Frank's name on it? What did the list mean. Joe swore to find out. He started looking into Frank's table. It was a mess, even messier than Joe's room and Joe was surprised. He was about to open the wardrobe when Lina's call of goodbye stopped him. He quickly managed to put the letter under the piles of books and rushed down the stairs.

"hey ! leaving already ?" Joe asked putting his most casual tone.

"Its 7:00 p.m" Lina said

"You could stay for dinner." Joe said.

"I'll come in another time." Lina replied

"You want one of us to drop you ?" Joe asked as it was getting dark. He surely didn't want Lina to get mugged or hit for that matter.

"Its alright. I'll walk."

"no. I'll drop you." Frank said with extreme firmness that surprised Joe. He hadn't heard his brother speak with such firmness for the past six to seven weeks. Maybe Frank didn't want something to happen to Lina like what happened to him.

"Maybe you should take rest Frank." Lina tried to tell but Joe knew Frank's tone. It was the tone that said, 'No room for arguing'.

"I'm fine. I'll drop you." Frank said and took the keys from the key holder and started towards the van. Lina didn't have another option but to follow.

"Alright then. Bye Joe ! see you at school."

"Bye."

...

Frank gripped the steering so hard that his knuckles had turned white. The ride was smooth until Frank suddenly hit the breaks, throwing Lina forward. Luckily the seatbelts prevented her from dashing against the dashboard.

"Frank, what happened ?" Lina asked. Though she was surprised, she was still calm. But Frank's face was one with fear.

"There. The man." Frank said pointing to empty aair.

"There's no one there Frank."

"I saw him."

"I think its just your imagination."

"No. No. "

"Frank, its alright."

Frank didn't say anything. He started driving again, silently. Lina could see he was sweating heavily. It was almost five minutes before the next illusion came by. Frank stopped the car again and Lina kept assuring that there was nothing. The next time, an old man was about to cross the road, Frank concluded it as an illusion and was about to hit the old man, luckily Lina pulled the steering and swerved the van away from the old man.

"That was close. " Frank said hitting the breaks near a side walk. "I can't do this anymore... You need to drive."

"I'd love to help you Frank, but the problem is I don't know how to drive." Lina said innocently.

"What ?" Frank looked at her with an incredulous expression. "Your uncle has a car right?"

"Never bothered, because I usually walk."

"Oh! God! " he said and sighed and then suddenly as if a wave of determination had passed through him, he said again " I'll drop you off, don't worry."

Lina simply nodded calmly. They had been through three narrow escapes and Lina still remained calm. Frank envied her. Before the whole traumatic incident, Frank too had been like Lina, maybe not too calm like her but to a certain extent. He was always the logical one. But now, Frank seemed to be searching the meaning for logic. Being the logical one, Frank had never believed in God but now he found himself praying to whichever power above him. So far, he received no result for his praying. He was angered to such an extent, that he wanted to convey that God did not exist.

"Try to loosen up a bit. Talk. I'll distract you." Lina said

It was then Frank realized that he had dug his nails into his palms during his angered thinking about God. Lina was right he needed a distraction, so he spoke the first thing that came to his mind.

"Never believe in God. There is no one like that."

"Interesting. what makes you believe that Frank ? Lina asked

"Oh yeah ! I prayed to him during my eternal misery and he did nothing."

Lina laughed. "No Frank, He doesn't work like that."

"How does He work then ?" he asked back.

"He tests people to a great extent, before he helps them."

"Oh! Yeah. Superstitious explanation. How come so many people who believe in God are overcome with misery ?"

"You can't pray to God one day asking him to offer you the post of Secretary of the student body association and then forget about him for a whole year until the next election. A lot of things come into account and one of the most important is faith and always doing the right thing. "

"I try to do the right thing most of the time. Joe and I have saved lives." Frank protested.

"and what makes you think God did not save you ?"

"Of course he did not save me." Frank said frustrated.

"Then how is that Frank Hardy that you escaped from the clutches of whichever devil was holding you ?"

"It was my own effort." Frank shouted.

" look around you Frank, trees, flowers, the sky, human beings. Haven't you ever wondered how all these came about. A bigger force to create such beautiful wonder."

"Science. It's called science. The Big bang." Frank said, hoping to stump Lina in the whole God conversation.

"What caused the Big bang Frank ?"

"Clashing of two worlds or huge atoms or molecules or whatever." Frank argued. He could feel it was going to be a heated argument. Good news was, he was finally getting his head to think of something.

"What force caused the atoms to clash ?"

"I don't know high concentration or something"

"What caused the high concentration ?"

"ugh. I don't know. Science."

"Don't be ridiculous Frank." Lina said laughing "science is just the name of a subject that studies the nature of the world. It says nothing about the true higher force that created these wonders. Take this car, how does it run ?"

"On gasoline of course."

"God is like the gasoline in the car. He is in you like gasoline but for you to move you have to do so. Just like for the car to move you have to start the engine and steer the car. God gave you the power to escape, because of what do they call it... Ah ! Yes karma or good deeds whatever. You steered yourself in the direction of escape and you're here driving me home."

Frank had to admit, he felt like he had just overlooked something. Suddenly it was like, he was a five year old needing assistance to tie his shoe lace. The rest of the drive was silent. Frank kept pondering Lina's words. Suddenly it was like actually, he had a gift but was failing to see it. He knew many teenagers like him had died under the lunatic's hand but only he had managed to escape. He also had a father capable of tracking down the lunatic, while other parents of children would've had to write a missing complain and wait for years with no knowledge of their children. He also had a brother capable of understanding him and helping him but would that brother be his brother if he knew what Frank had done. Finally, Frank decided to push the thoughts to the back of his mind. He would continue the same way he was doing now. Finally he arrived at Lina's house. Lina was right. Con Riley a long time friend of the Hardy's was living next noticed a lady waiting sitting on the porch. He presumed it to be Mrs. John.

"My aunt." Lina said conforming Frank's doubt .

"Lina ! There you are." Aunt Martha came up to hug her niece.

"Now who might you be kind young man."

"Aunt Mar, remember Joe hardy who came to dine with us sort of a week back. Its his elder brother, Frank." Lina said.

"Oh! Of course Mr. Riley speaks highly of you brothers and your father. Thank you very much for bringing my daughter back."

"I basically took her time, Mrs. John. I'm really sorry." Frank said sincerely.

"You're a good young gentleman. I certainly trust you." Aunt Martha said and smiled.

"You'll be okay ?" Lina asked Frank.

Frank nodded and with goodbyes the two friends parted.

...

Joe could say he had a very productive time earlier in the evening. It was 9:00p.m and he was on his way to his bedroom when he heard his brother arguing over the phone. Curiosity took over the younger Hardy and he listened by the door.

"I need it tomorrow. its urgent."

...

"You have to figure something out."

...

"I can't do without it."

...

"Fine. Give me a substitute."

...

"Yeah soon. Thank you"

Frank has hung up, thought Joe, when he didn't hear anymore conversation. What was Frank doing ? Joe felt his brother was doing something dangerous, but he pushed the thought away. He knew the list of names was by far his most productive discovery. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, he thought. 'Shopping with the girls in the mall.' God! With that Joe Hardy fell onto his bed and drifted asleep.

...

Frank Hardy put the hoodie of his jacket over his head. He kept muttering in frustration all the way.

"It had to be city mall" he muttered to himself.

He soon reached the main hall of the mall. A man in black waved at him. Frank noticed and went towards the man, praying that his friends would not notice him there in the unfortunately Frank's luck seemed to have worn out. About few meters away on the escalator were his friends going towards the third floor to the accessories section.

"Oh ! Isn't that Frank down there. I thought he wasn't coming." Lina said looking down from the escalator.

"Where ?" Joe and Callie asked surprised.

"In the main hall. I see him" said Tony pointing at Frank from above.

"What's he doing ?" Vanessa asked with a curious expression. They could see that Frank and the Black hooded guy were having some transaction.

"Buying a book." Biff suggested.

"quite possible." Phil said.

"There are dozens of book stores for that." Chet pointed out.

"maybe, he wants to save on pocket money or something" Callie said even though her mind did not tell her so.

Down there Frank was absolutely unaware of the gang's discussion about him.

"Does it work ?" Frank asked his dealer.

"Sweetly." Replied the man.

"How many should I take Bard ?

"Two would do. Not more than that." Bard replied.

"Where's the other thing that you promised me ?"

Bard tucked a new envelope into Frank's jacket pocket and left. Frank stood there for sometime talked to some of the salesmen working there and left.

Something about the whole deal felt artificial to Joe. He resolved to ask Frank when he got home.

...

When Frank reached home he was in the grip of illusions. It didn't take long for him to realize he was hallucinating.

The words nearly snapped his head open.

 _"_ _ **You will never escape me ,**_

 _ **I will make your life miserable.**_

 _ **I shall haunt you for the rest of your life until you beg for death"**_

Frank made it to his bedroom and shut the door. He needed a distraction he thought. He didn't have Lina to talk and now he felt like he was being driven to absolute insanity. Near, on the side table near his bed he saw a blade. Frank didn't know what got over him. But he needed the voices to stop. He took the blade and started cutting his upper arm. He nearly gagged at the pain. The blood spilled out and the pain took away most of his thoughts and finally the voices stopped. A new discovery thought Frank, pain keeps me sane, he thought insanely.

...

...…..…...…..…...…...…...…...…...

Before Bayport High could shut and open its eyes, a month flew by. Mid terms were approaching in three weeks and the students were busy in the preparation of their presentations.

Frank Hardy sat in the corner of the washroom cutting himself or rather sawing himself with the blade which had now turned to blood red colour. It had become his hobby one could say.

Joe Hardy and the others sat around in conference most of the time discussing Frank's abnormal behavior. The outburst Frank had at the old history teacher a week ago was still the talk of the school. The History teacher, Ms. Doddery had burst into tears by the harsh comments coming from her star student. Most of the students felt afraid to confront Frank after that incident. Only Joe, Lina and Callie seemed to have the guts to do so. Lina, well, it didn't seemed like she was even aware of Frank's outburst or maybe she just didn't care.

She just kept talking about classes and physics and space though Frank didn't reply, she never seemed to care if Frank was irritated or frustrated or dazed. As for Joe he was getting concerned for his brother by the minute. Things seemed to be going too far. Frank's grades seemed to be slipping from straight A's to B's and C's. Callie was trying to help Frank calm down his temper.

Frank's teachers were surprised by his don't care behaviour and his answers. sometimes the answer to integral of sine would be Othello or Hitler was assassinated in the year ... would be, England. The writer of Wuthering heights ... would be J. K. Rowling. Frank's answers made no sense to the teachers. Sometimes when some dumb jocks tried to bully him, Frank would turn into Darth Vader and nearly scare the hell out of those students. The last time this happened almost seven teachers had to pull Frank off Johnathan Bleeson the captain of the Boxing team.

Callie later had to calm Frank down. In all this, Joe had to figure out what the coded letter and the list of names meant. It wasn't until a Friday evening that Joe's luck started to shine.

He was passing through his father's study when he heard his father talking over the phone to Chief Collig, a long time friend of the Hardys.

"Yes. He's not telling anyone."

...

"He's changed that's right. I don't know what is causing him to do all this. Last week he shouted at his history teacher saying that she was aan old fool. Believe me, I wasn't able to trust my ears when that Principal told me."

...

" we kill the mind. yes. Yeah ! I've seen it before too. I know it but can't remember it. I know its about something I dealt with almost six to seven years ago. Yeah. I'm searching the files. There's a bunch of them."

...

"The message clearly says they are coming for revenge. I am sure these were the people that took Frank and tortured him in June."

...

"Yeah. Thank you very much Collig. Thanks a lot."

Fenton soon left the study after the conversation. Joe quietly entered the study. His father had probably gone upstairs. He started the computer and waited. There was a box wanting a password. Damn it! thought Joe, Frank would have been much better at guessing passwords.

"I can't keep whining." Joe said in a soft sing song voice.

If I were dad what password would I keep, he kept thinking.

Hardy maybe. He brushed that thought. Frank. No too obvious and then a sudden brain wave lit him. He typed the password and the desktop screen appeared

"I knew it. It was 'the mind' " Joe said and congratulated himself on the discovery. Usually Fenton Hardy's computer passwords were mostly based on what thought was occupying his mind more.

Joe selected the files that said recently out of jail. All the names were unfamiliar. None of them were out for revenge. All were murderers or drug dealers not a lunatic that kills the mind. Joe was beginning to get bored. The file searching had always been Frank's job. Suddenly Joe realized how it would be if he were the only son . He realized that living without Frank would be impossible. But then again Frank would be off to college next year and he would have to finish his final year alone. Joe desperately wanted Frank to be with him, guide him. He realized that he had been depended on Frank more than he thought so. Frank needs me now . I have to help him now, Joe thought firmly. Being under the protection of his brother's logical mind for so long, Joe never felt any difficuly . now things were different, Joe had to think and do things. I have to be independent. Frank needs my help now, he kept saying to himself

Joe sat for almost two hours picking out names of criminals that would have reason for revenge. Finally he became satisfied with the names that he had got. When about to switch off the computer a file caught his eyes. It said 'NOT TO BE TOUCHED' . It was in audio. Joe clicked it and it began to play.

 _ **"How long do you think you'll last kid ?"**_

 _ **"As long as it takes."**_

Joe noticed that the first voice was menacing and harsh. The second voice sounded much younger, though it sounded weak, it had something like defiance in it.

 _ **"Who are you ?"**_

 _ **"None of damn business. "**_

 _ **"Who are you ?"**_ the voice asked louder this time.

 _ **"Nothing like you, you filthy scumbag."**_

Oops ! Not the expected aanswer, thought Joe. He was starting to get interested. He heard something crashing in the background.

 _ **"Now tell me Who are you ? Tell me what I expect."**_

 _ **"You deaf ? I said nothing like you, filthy scumbag. "**_

The lunatic screamed. The second voice, the voice of the victim startes laughing . Joe started to realize that the victim was a teenager, like him. He looked at when the audio was taken. Its six years old thought Joe, when he saw the date.

 _ **"Beg for mercy. Beg for death. Scream in pain "**_

 _ **"Go to hell. "**_

Joe was starting to respect the teenager. Joe heard many things crashing in the background and ragged breath. Having been kidnapped many times, Joe guessed that glasses were being thrown at the victim.

 _ **"Your parents don't care for you. Your family, where are they ? Left their only child to die ?"**_

Joe detected a kind of dangerous tone in the man's voice, like he was using a different tactic.

 _ **"I know they care. your stupid tricks won't work on me. I know what you do, you brainwash teenagers like me into believing things. You put stupid things in their mind them against their families,drive them insane, and then kill them. I'll fight you and your tricks, even kill you, if I have to."**_

Joe had to admire the teenager's guts. It took some time for Joe to realize that the boy was baiting the lunatic into accepting something. Joe sat up straight. He knew this part. He and Frank had done it dozens of times. It was the part when the crime doers would be proud about their ideas and spill it all. Something told Joe this was a recording taken without the knowledge of the stupid lunatic.

 _ **"Huh. Son, I do more than that. I learnt great levels of psychiatry. I gave great ideas. I wanted to explore minds, see what was behind. Until they kicked me out. Literally kicked me out. I swore revenge. I took that director's son, I knew the mind of teenagers, I tortured them using my knowledge of psychiatry. I took children one by one and broke them. All star students, so easy to break. I brainwashed them, turning them against their families, I made them hallucinate. Those kids never were able to get the help of their parents. Do you know why ? Because they all believed that their parents caused this fate on them."**_

Joe felt disgusted. The man was truly insane but the last two lines hit Joe hard. It was like he was seeing a live show, symptoms of people who suffered under this lunatic. Then it hit him ; Frank. Joe felt like he had a heart attack. He recalled the first lines Frank had told him when he had woken up in Bayport general.

"This is all your fault." Frank had shouted at his father.

Joe couldn't move , he was hearing the voice of the person who had tortured his brother or so he presumed. He concentrated on the voice of the teenager. No. It wasn't Frank's. He was sure of that. Then he he shook his head, what an idiot he was, the video was dated six years ago. Maybe this wasn't Frank's kidnapper. Joe heard the teenager laugh. Then after that it was silent. Joe thought the recording had ended but he heard the man's voice again.

 _ **"Why are you laughing ?"**_

Silence.

 _ **"Because you just gave it away. This has gone to the cops."**_

Joe heard a loud shout from the lunatic and the sound of the teenager grunt in pain. Joe guessed the boy had been stabbed. With that the recording had ended underneath the recording was a name 'thearcher91' .

Joe finally felt like he had received a clue. Now to get this to Phil and track down the sender, Joe thought. He took a CD from the stack his father kept. Copied the recording and put it in his bag and got out of the study.

"Mom, I'll be back in an hour." Joe said loudly as he took the van keys and left. He checked his bag for the letter and the list, satisfied he started the engine. He was going to find out if the feeling in his gut was right.


	4. A run away incident

**Disclaimer : I do not own any of the Hardy Boys. I only do this as a hobby. Only the O.C Elieen John is mine.**

 **A/n : sorry for the delay.** **This story has Frank as a troubled, disturbed teenager, this is just to show that no one's perfect. And also, it is always Frank who looks out for Joe as a big brother, comforting him and always doing the logical thinking. This time Joe is going to be after his brother, trying to do the logical stuff and the brawn stuff. Come on, give Frank Hardy a break :-)**

 **Please review and tell me what you feel about the story bad or good.**

 **Important note :**

 **I also want to thank everyone who has reviewed. I have PM ed all those on fanfiction and I also thank the others who have reviewed too. Thank you goes to - Janet, Darkest arrow, Guest , Alicori , Popalot - who has reviewed all the three chapters. John Smith , Lina , Shobha - my dear supporter, Martha, and pen4lew -who pointed out my spelling mistakes. Thank you all. Lots and lots of hearts and smiles :) :) :)**

Chapter - 4

"Interesting." Phil commented on Frank's code. Joe and he had spent the last fifteen minutes trying to crack the code but had not received any results.

"Do you have some code breaking software or something ?" Joe asked as he kept biting the edge of his pencil.

"No. Not yet. Where are the other two things that you wanted to show me ?" Phil asked .

Joe took out the bit of paper in which he had written the names and showed it to Phil. Phil looked at the list for a few minutes.

 **James Harrington - January - 1 month**

 **Leonard Alexander - February - 1 month**

 **Fanny Porter - December - 5 months**

 **Anna Martin - July - 3 months**

 **Emmanuel Horace - January - 4 months**

 **Jim Carter - September - 3 months**

 **Adam Hendrick - January - 1 month**

 **Alan Johnson. - June - 2 and a half years**

 **David Becky - January - 2 months**

 **Lance Hanson - September - 1 month**

 **Mary Matthew - August - 7 months**

 **Mark Matthew - August - 7 months**

 **James Colt - September - 8 months**

 **Marah Colt - September - 8 months**

 **Franklin Hardy**

… **...…**

"So, what do you think ?" Joe asked.

"Where did you get this ?" Phil asked scrutinizing the list.

"I copied it from a letter Frank had." Joe replied.

Phil studied the list for a few more moments and then said "I think this has something to do with whatever happened to Frank in June."

"Well, I guessed that part too but he was supposed to be in Kansas, I don't know how Frank could've reached Bayport if he was kidnapped in Kansas." Joe said thoughtfully replaying the events in his head.

"Hmm. You say Frank was kidnapped in Kansas and then brought here. Why would a kidnapper do that ? Why bring the victim to the victim's home ground, that too on the day his victim was supposed to return ?"

"That's one thing that confuses me a lot." Joe said "Any ideas ?"

Phil crunched up his face working the events out in his head. It was two whole minutes of silence before a revelation hit Phil. His face visibly brightened.

"What ?" Joe asked looking at Phil's brightened face.

"Its a hunch but still — We keep saying Frank was kidnapped in Kansas right ? What if he never went to Kansas ?"

Joe blinked a few times before he realized what Phil was trying to tell him.

"No way ! Holy Goats !" Joe exclaimed.

"Way." Phil said enthusiastically.

"You are saying that Frank might have been kidnapped in Bayport." Joe asked .

"Yes."

"Phil , listen the cops, checked that part. Frank went to Kansas. There's a record there." Joe said biting his nails.

"I'm getting to that. Listen. Frank must have been in Bayport the whole time. My best guess is that, he must have been kidnapped on his way to the airport or in the airport. Whoever did it must have known Frank's schedule clearly, to plan an ambush like that. Then he must have made a fake passport duplicating Frank's name and got in with an accomplice in the airport ." Phil answered.

"But Frank himself agreed he had been to Kansas." Joe argued.

"I can bet my entire bank account that he was lying. " Phil said confidently. Joe seemed thoughtful for sometime and then asked–

"Okay. So how do you explain his escape ?"

"Aha ! about Frank's escape. I think it is sheer co incidence that Frank happened to arrive on the morning on 15th. He must have escaped from his captor somehow." Phil explained slowly.

"Hmm. So in other words the captor has been following Frank for quite some time before he planned this. Except, his plan got busted when Frank escaped." Joe said.

"Right. I think your father was correct. It has to be one of his old enemies."

"In that case, Frank is still in danger. The message in the arrow last month, it really meant something. When I mentioned it to Frank, he got tensed." Joe recalled.

"But we've got an advantage to easily figure things out." Phil said looking at Joe with a smirk.

"home ground. We can do our finding out much easier." Joe said returning the knowing smile.

" Now the list. I need some time with it. I don't know most of them but the name James Harrington seems familiar to me." Phil said.

" It does ? Where have you heard it before ?" Joe asked desperately. So far the list had shed zero clues.

"I don't remember. But I'll figure it out. I promise."

Joe let out a huge sigh as he leaned onto the chair, then he remembered. He quickly dug into his bag and took out the disk.

"Phil, I was snooping through dad's computer earlier and I somehow managed to stumble onto this audio clip titled 'not to be touched' it kind of speaks of Frank's situation."

Phil looked at Joe quizzically. "You got this out of your dad's private computer ?" he asked stressing on the 'dad's private computer'

"Yes."

"Without him knowing ?"

"Yes."

"Even though it said 'not to be touched'."

"Yes."

"By hacking it ?"

"Guessing actually."

"Knowing you could get into trouble."

"Yes. only if he knows it."

"And also considering the fact that the FBI could actually be knocking at your door this very minute."

"Ye... What ? FBI ? Phil —"

"Joe Hardy, go on like this for a few more months with a little more training and then five years of experience a little here and a little there. You will have earned a permanent spot in the NSA with a minimum estimated salary 50,000 dollars a are great man." Phil said and he hugged Joe hard.

"Okay. That's nice." Joe said amused by the whole idea of earning a permanent spot in the NSA.

Phil then took the disk put it into his laptop and it started playing.

—

 _ **"How long do you think you'll last kid ?"**_

 _ **"As long as it takes."**_

… … … …

 _ **"Who are you ?"**_

 _ **"None of damn business. "**_

 _ **"Who are you ?"**_

 _ **"Nothing like you, you filthy scumbag."**_

In the background : glass crashing.

 _ **"Now tell me Who are you ? Tell me what I expect."**_

 _ **"You deaf ? I said nothing like you, filthy scumbag. "**_

In the back ground : screaming and laughter.

 _ **"Beg for mercy. Beg for death. Scream in pain "**_

 _ **"Go to hell. "**_

In the back ground : glass crashing and ragged breath.

 _ **"Your parents don't care for you. Your family, where are they ? Left their only child to die ?"**_

 _ **"I know they care. your stupid tricks won't work on me. I know what you do, you brainwash teenagers like me into believing things. You put stupid things in their mind turn against their families,drive them insane, and then kill them. I'll fight you and your tricks, even kill you, if I have to."**_

 _ **"Huh. Son, I do more than that. I learnt great levels of psychiatry. I gave great ideas. I wanted to explore minds, see what was behind. Until they kicked me out. Literally kicked me out. I swore revenge. I took that director's son, I knew the mind of teenagers, I tortured them using my knowledge of psychiatry. I took children one by one and broke them. All star students, so easy to break. I brainwashed them, turning them against their families, I made them hallucinate. Those kids never were able to get the help of their parents. Do you know why ? Because they all believed that their parents caused this fate on them."**_

In the background : Laughter.

 _ **"Why are you laughing ?"**_

Silence.

 _ **"Because you just gave it away. This has gone to the cops."**_

The recording ended. Phil was quiet. He had the thoughtful look on his face. Joe knew Phil was thinking of something deeply.

"Psychiatry." Phil said under his breath. "Frank was behaving in the way that lunatic mentioned ?"

"Yeah. He kept talking about how it was dad's fault, how I was a traitor and how mom and aunt Gertrude just didn't care. He said he'll get out of our lives forever." Joe said wincing at the memory.

Phil put up his thoughtful face and Joe immediately knew that he was deeply thinking of something.

"Its weird." Phil commented, more to himself than to Joe.

Joe meanwhile kept wondering how to connect the pieces in his head.

"Joe ? Joe?"

He snapped out of his thinking when Phil called his name.

"What are you thinking ?" Phil asked.

"Nothing. Just trying to put things together. I mean, look , Frank's a star student, the logical guy, the person who is full of warmth and every thing but suddenly he starts getting Bs and Cs in most of his tests, presentations and all that sort. I'm worried. That lunatic in the recording said the same thing. He said he turned teenagers against their parents and broke them mentally.—" Joe stopped halfway

"What ? I'm listening" Phil said when he noticed Joe with a weird expression on his face.

"Oh ! God ! 'We kill the mind.' ! I should have thought about it. I'm an idiot." Joe exclaimed.

"Its got to be this guy, Phil. Its got to be him." Joe said excited as he jumped up from his chair.

"Woah ! Woah ! Woah ! Joe wait. There are tons of gangs and criminals who put up logos like 'we kill the mind' . That Chinese mafia breaks the mind of people. Clemon Souza's drug cartel whom you dealt with two years back had the same kind of method. Bart- lee , that insane guy from the asylum, he too tortured you and Frank for revenge. Then that terrifying Japanese mafia, The yakuza, your father dealt with them and exposed half their forces in west Japan, six years ago remember."

"Oh! Hell !" Joe said and he slumped back into his chair.

"We need to start trying to figure some— "

"The archer91" Joe said.

"What ?" Phil asked with a baffled expression.

"Phil, can you track the sender of this audio clip ?" Joe asked.

"well, I could try. "

"You must do it. It says underneath the clip that some guy named 'thearcher91' has sent this."

"Joe, you do realize that whoever sent the clip might not even be alive." Phil said

"Yeah. I know, but we might be able to get in touch with the guy's family or something." Joe said.

"Alright. I'll do my best." Phil said.

"Okay then, see you tomorrow. Its getting late." Joe said and got up from his chair. Phil gave him the list, the code and the disk.

"Keep it. Its much safer here." Joe said and Phil agreed.

At the door, both the boys said their goodbyes and Joe drove off.

...…

Phil walked up the driveway and rang the bell. No answer. He rang the bell again. No answer. It took a moment for him to realize that the door was quietly opened it. It surprised him. Usually, Mr. And Mrs. John were careful when it came to locking their doors.

"Hello." he called out carefully ready to tackle a burglar at any moment.

For a moment he thought he heard something.

"Hello ! Lina ! are you home ?" Phil called out.

And then again he heard it, louder this time. The sound of some one weeping. He started moving towards were the sound was coming. It is coming from the kitchen, he thought. He moved closer carefully. He was now a few feet away from the kitchen. From there he saw, Mrs. John sobbing into something that looked like a diary. She was on the floor.

"Mrs. John ?" Phil called as he moved cautiously, so as to not startle the lady.

At first Mrs. John didn't hear him. So Phil called louder this time.

"Mrs. John ?"

At this the sobbing woman quickly turned startled. She looked at Phil like she was seeing a ghost. Phil could see that her eyes were red rimmed from crying. Her nose was red too. She kept clinging onto the diary covered in cloth as if it were her lifeline.

"Mrs. John are you alright ?" Phil asked carefully.

It seemed a moment or two before the lady actually registered the fact that Phil was standing in front of her.

"Oh! Goodness ! Phil !" She exclaimed in a shrill voice. She quickly put away the thing Phil assumed to be a diary.

"Did you want something dear ? Is Lina back already ? Thank you so much for bringing her." Mrs. John said the words tumbling out of her in full speed.

"What ? Mrs. John, Lina isn't with me." Phil said surprised.

Mrs. John turned bright red. "Oh! She must have gone to the shop then." she said wiping away the left over tears from her eyes.

"Mrs. John is something wrong ? where is Lina ?" Phil asked looking around.

"Oh ! I forgot I had sent Lina to buy groceries for me. Anyway she was talking about coming to your house and I thought she had gone." Mrs. John said keeping away the China ware in full speed. Her hands were trembling and a few plastic spoons fell onto the floor. Phil bent down to help her.

"Really. That's kind of surprising because Lina did not mention anything about coming to my house at school. Actually, I told her I would come to borrow a book she had." Phil said unconvinced.

"Oh! she said she would give it to you at your home. That girl forgets things sometimes. Always does, never remembers when she has to go to a friend's house." Mrs. John said not looking at Phil.

Phil still looked unconvinced. Lina never forgot things like that. He knew Mrs. John wasn't telling him something but he did not mention anything.

"Why were you crying Mrs. John ?" he asked.

The middle aged lady stopped washing the dishes for a moment.

"Oh! That's nothing dear." Mrs. John replied in a jittery tone. She was jumpy and she kept dropping the napkins and accidentally knocked over the the plastic container which held a loaf of bread.

"Oh!" She exclaimed.

Phil bent down again and helped her pick up the container and napkins.

"Mrs. John, Lina is alright isn't she ?" Phil asked concerned.

"Lina ? Yeah. Yeah. The girl is fit as a fiddle." Mrs. John replied cleaning away the few crumbs of bread that were left on the floor.

Phil noticed that Mrs. John did not look into his face the whole time she talked. A bit unlikely of the jovial middle aged lady. Phil looked around and noticed a suitcase near the dining room. He felt a sudden horror.

"You're not leaving are you ?You've hardly stayed six months here." Phil said in horror.

"Leaving ?" Mrs. John asked confused first, the she turned her gaze to were Phil was looking.

Then she let out a nervous laugh and said

"Oh! That. oh! No. No. No. We're not moving away. Mr. John and I are just going to Seattle for awhile. Lina will be here alone of course ."

At the mention of Lina being alone, fresh tears ran down her cheeks. She had her back turned to Phil, but he could hear her sniffing and wiping her tears.

"You're worried Lina will be alone. That's why you are crying." he said.

At first Mrs. John seemed to be confused but then she just gave a short nervous smile and nodded.

"Its the first time we are leaving her alone in a new place." Mrs. John said nervously.

"How long will you be gone ?"

"Three weeks." Mrs. John answered in a small voice.

"Oh! Mrs. John, you don't have to worry at all. we'll take care of Lina and besides that, officer Riley is next door. He'll do his best." Phil said hugging the elderly woman. At first Mrs. John seemed to be surprised but then she returned the warm hug.

"You're all nice kids. Thank you Phil. Its been a long time...," She trailed off and nervously let out a laugh. Then again in a serious tone she asked

"Mr. Riley wouldn't mind if Lina stayed in his house for three weeks, would he ?"

"Not at all. He'll be glad to help." Phil answered confidently.

Mrs. John's face relaxed and she put on a smile, Phil was very much used to.

"Aunt Mar, Here you go."

Mrs. John and Phil turned to see Lina keeping the two huge bags of groceries on the dining table.

"How long have you been here Phil ?" Lina asked smiling.

"Not for long, Lina " Phil answered.

"My parents are leaving for Seattle tonight. So I went to buy groceries for the next two weeks." Lina said.

"Yeah, your aunt told me." Phil said.

"Darling, would you mind staying in Officer Riley's house for three weeks ?" Aunt Martha asked

Lina seemed to be thoughtful.

"I'll decide later." she said finally. "Come on Phil I've never shown you my room before" Lina said pulling Phil over before Aunt Martha could argue.

Lina's room was like something Phil had never seen before. It had posters of the universe, constellations, black holes, quasars and the milky way galaxy. In the corner of the room was a small study table with the books neatly arranged in the corner. There was a small book shelf above the table. It had five shelves and each shelf had a paper stuck to it telling what all the shelf contained. The first row from the bottom had a special sliding door which was locked. The second row had books about computers. The books arranged in the third row were mainly astronomy and constellations. The fourth row had various works of English Literature. The fifth and the top most row had various out dated car magazines and sports magazines and on top of those books was a laptop.

There were two wardrobes next to her study table and her cot faced them. The right adjoining side had two windows. Next to the bedroom door was an attached bathroom.

Below her cot were two large rectangular cases and two suitcases.

"What's in those ?" Phil asked curiously.

"That one has a telescope and the other case, that's empty. The two suitcases they are mine for travels. " Lina replied.

"Can I see it ?" Phil asked excited. Lina opened the huge case. In it was the telescope. It had a brass coating to it. The stand was a bit rusted but it still worked perfectly.

"Wow! This is really cool !" Phil exclaimed admiring the telescope's each and every part.

After admiring, he care fully put the telescope back in the case. He had to move the empty rectangular case to make some space for the telescope's case, but to his surprise the other case wouldn't budge. He tried pushing again but it was heavy, it was almost as if the box was filled with rocks. The case had faded writing on its side. Phil managed to read only the ending which said 'er's kit'. Lina had said the box was empty but it still was difficult to push. Phil noticed that there was a huge lock to the case. Why put a lock to the case if its empty Phil thought. Somehow, he managed to push it and placed the telescope carefully. When he got up he saw Lina going through a book . When she saw him, she smiled.

"Here. This is a book on the various laws of physics , you must get what you are looking for in this." she said

Phil thanked her sincerely. After few minutes of discussing conspiracy theories on whether aliens exist or not Phil asked "so are you going to stay in officer Riley's place till your parents come back ?"

"I don't know. Aunty worries too much at times." Lina said in her serene manner.

"She was crying about it when I arrived."

"About me being alone ? That's funny. Aunty has been worried many times but never cried about it."

"Well she was crying into your diary." Phil said and immediately kicked himself mentally. It was his assumption.

"I have never owned a diary." Lina said.

"Oh ! So that wasn't a diary. Sorry."

"That's alright. Guess I'll go and stay in officer Riley's house for aunty's satisfaction."

"Good. I'll get going then" Phil said and Lina walked him to the door.

"Bye Lina"

"Bye Phil."

…...…...…...…...…...…...…

The dinner at the Hardy household had been quiet. Joe was watching the baseball match in total boredom. When finally he wasn't able to stand the lousy game, he switched off the t.v and went to his room. His night wasn't as interesting as earlier this evening. But unfortunately, even Joe Hardy cannot predict the future. On Joe's nightstand lay a pen. Suddenly Joe remembered that it was the pen his brother usually used for writing. God ! I forgot to return it, he thought. Joe had borrowed the pen to finish a test in school. He took the pen and went to his brother's room . Now, even an astrologer couldn't have predicted such a twist in the day. Joe would later feel that as the greatest mistake in his life. All along he knew something was wrong but never in an entire lifetime would he have bet on such a thing. Suddenly Joe Hardy felt the world buckling underneath him. He caught the bathroom door for balance. His brother...Frank... No way!

Joe was stunned for the next few mminutes. Frank didn't seem to notice him as he was too busy trying to find a vein. The needle pierced his skin and in turn his action was like a sword piercing Joe's heart. The brother whom he had trusted was different, It wasn't Frank. It can't be Frank, he thought.

"Frank— " Joe whispered in horror. It was like all the colour had drained from his face.

Joe's call snapped Frank from his delirium. When Frank noticed that Joe had been there the whole time . He suddenly did not know if he must be angry or beg Joe to keep quiet. Frank's eyes were blood shot, skin pale and cheeks red in anger.

"what do you want ? Why did you come here ?" Frank asked in a deadly cold voice.

Joe moved a step back at the new tone "Frank — wh...what ?"

"what do you want ? Why did you come here ?" he asked in the same deadly tone.

"I...I ..came to ret... return— " Joe shook his head and recovered from the shock. He quickly looked at the Frank in front of him. Frank's using drugs , thought Joe in utter horror. The drugs effect was making him do this. Joe had read enough about drugs to know that some caused personality changes (for the worse.)

"Frank you are using drugs ." Joe said unbelievingly. The thing that happened next was something Joe felt sure he wouldn't forget even if his memory was modified. Frank took the nearby stool and hurled it at Joe in full force. Luckily, Joe's instincts kicked in, he dodged it and it went crashing into the bathroom floor. If he hadn't, it would've hit him straight on the forehead.

"Frank ! What is this ?" Joe shouted at his brother.

Joe had great trouble trying to think, Frank was under the influence of the drugs. All at once pain, hurt and anger flooded him. Frank was a star student , the logical one in the family and now he was seeing an insane person

"What is this ? Joe, you're asking me what this is ? I'll tell you what this is . I had to always be the one to do the thinking right ? The star student , 'Oh ! You're dad would be so proud. You are so lucky to have a son like that .' and all that rubbish. I always had to be the one to keep up the expectations right ? One disappointed look from dad and I had to regret it. The one who was always had to maintain family honour. The one who was always afraid of doing the wrong thing in school. While you didn't just care whether dad was disappointed or not. You didn't care if you copied a test or bunked a class. You did the wrong things and you got to be the popular guy in school. But what do I get for doing the right thing, huh ? What do I get ? I get the title nerd, freak, geek, dumb idiot and what not. I get to be used and thrown away, and all for what ? Just because I can play only football and I suck at others I can't play badminton straight. Oh ! And then Chess! something to add to my title the freak ! I had to be the guy who everyone made fun of right Joe ? The guy who cant play a single game . I do one bad thing and people come straight at me, don't they ? Never think of all the good things I've done , do they ? I slip a little and I'm the bad guy ! You don't know what it feels like, the feeling that there's no one to hear you, no one to talk to except to yourself like a mad person. Almost makes you think why you do good things ? If you're gonna slip no ones gonna think of the good its only the bad. Bad ! Bad! right ? And people like you, get fame and popularity for nothing ! and people who don't do anything like bunking a class are called cowards, uncool people. Ive got nothing, no skill at all. Did I ask for fame ? No. Did I ask for cool attitude ? No. I only asked for a bit of respect !" Frank shouted.

Joe stood their shocked. He couldn't believe his brother was talking like talking made no sense to Joe. Never had he thought Frank had felt like this mentally. The drugs, Joe thought. I have to help him.

" Frank, please, I can help, Dad and Mom will help— "

"Help ! Help !" Frank let out an insane laughter " You're going to help me ? No one can help me. You all killed me. Frank Hardy's gone. I am not Frank Hardy. I'm a monster! I'm a monster because of Dad ! You are a traitor ! " Frank shouted.

"Frank, no please ," Joe begged, tears running down his face. Joe so badly wanted to hold his brother and show him that he was there. "You are not thinking clearly. You need help. We'll give it to you." Joe said.

At that moment Fenton, Laura and Gertrude entered the room. The stood near the door. They had heard a commotion and had hurried up.

"Joe , what — ?" Fenton started at the sight of both of his sons. Joe silenced him with a glare.

"Help ! " Frank shouted in anger "I know what you'll do . You really hate me don't you, Joe ? I was right all along. You hate me ! "

Joe shook his head as he let the tears fall freely. All along he had tried to compose himself but this was too much.

"But you know what Joe ? Not everybody can be like you, an excellent sports guy or a guy who can perfectly bunk class. Some of us make mistakes . "

Joe tried to figure out what Frank was telling.

"Yeah. Some of us have to survive. Not everybody is lucky. YES! YES ! I DID IT ! I KILLED A MAN ! I KILLED A MAN !" Frank roared.

Joe's eyes widened in horror. The three elders in the room stood there as if they had been shocked with hundred volts of electricity. Finally, Frank shook his head , he seemed to be aware that he had an audience besides, Joe. Fenton Hardy paled. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Frank ?" he whispered softly at his son. "You ?"

Frank suddenly came to his senses. He ran his hands through his hair in total surprise. He himself couldn't believe what he had done. He looked at Joe and the stool which he had just thrown.

"What happened ? What did I do ?" He whispered to himself but Joe heard him and his eyes widened even more. Frank staggered back, looking at his family.

He didn't give a second thought on what he would do next. He had made a mistake. He had lost his temper. Bard had told him two would do but he had taken five. As quick as lightning he jumped out of the window and crashed to the ground below. He felt a searing pain in his ankle. He knew it had been sprained. But he couldn't stay here. He ran limping on the way ;the last words of the man he had killed ringing in his head.

 _"_ _ **You will never escape me ,**_

 _ **I will make your life miserable.**_

 _ **I shall haunt you for the rest of your life until you beg for death"**_

It took almost a moment for the Hardy family to recover from the shock of what had happened. The first person to react was Joe. He rushed to the window and was just in time to see his brother running away.

Fenton felt like he had been struck by lightening. No. no. No. Not his son he tried to think.

"Dad ! We have to get him back." Joe cried looking at his father.

Fenton stood like statue looking at his son with an expressionless face.

"Dad ! Please,... He doesn't know what he is saying. He just needs help. Dad ! Please..." Joe pleaded at his father.

Fenton finally moved out of the bedroom leaving Joe , his wife and sister. Once in his room, Fenton Hardy cried like a child. The house was in misery the next few hours. Laura had fainted moments after Frank had left. Joe was in his brother's room not believing a thing. The only person who actually seemed to handle things strongly was aunt Gertrude. She kept comforting her sister-in-law. Doing all things necessary to see the family did not fall apart.

Fenton Hardy felt like a failure. He kept remembering the words his son had uttered.

'I killed a man' over and over in his head. Finally Fenton took the hardest decision in his life. With pain searing in his chest, hands trembling, he took up the phone in the nightstand and dialled three numbers. The ringing started, moments later a voice spoke from the other end 'Hello, this is the Bayport Police department. "

"Hello." Fenton said his voice breaking "I'm Fenton Hardy and I've called to report a murder…...…—" .


	5. The Flame called Hope

**Chapter-5**

 **THE FLAME CALLED HOPE**

Frank Hardy ran as fast as he could through the abandoned alley. Dozens of memories passed through his mind. He and Joe eating pizza the day before he had to leave for Kansas, the ambush at the airport, his torture at the Psyche's hand, The mental instability that he had suffered for two weeks. Frank tried to shut the memories out, but every time he did, the more painful memories that he had pushed to the back of his mind came to play. He ran blindly through the roads, trying to shake off his hallucinations. A truck narrowly missed him and he had to crash onto the near by sidewalk to avoid getting hit. At once he felt dizzy.A large gash was on his head and it was bleeding. He stood up unsteadily and fell back onto the sidewalk, hurting his back. He felt his vision getting blurry. He tried getting up again and held the nearby lamp post for support. He walked in a nearly drunken state. His mind went in and out of consciousness. He kept stumbling from one side of the road to another. He came close to hitting lam posts thrice in this state of his. Frank didn't know what to do. He prayed to whoever was listening above , to put him out of this misery. He knew this was all his fault. He had been specifically told by his dealer to take two, but he had taken four and had lost his mind. The hurt faces of the members in his family flashed passed like a power point presentation. He nearly cried in agony at the mental torture he was facing. In this dazed state of his , he almost fell into a nearby ditch. By this time he had lost his sense of direction and his mind had lost its sanity. He kept shouting at empty air to leave him alone. It could have been almost an hour and Frank's broken state of mind was begging at the lamp post to stop the torture. It is hard to guess what any of the passers by would have thought, but for Frank he was reliving the torture he had faced almost two months back. Frank lay down , begging the lamp post to stop. He wept silently into his knees for sometime and due to his physical and mental exhaustion he soon drifted off into a unpeaceful sleep.

It was 2:00 a.m on the city watch. Two hours had passed and Frank Hardy was still saying things in his sleep. Far back, a few yards away from where Frank was lying, a girl walked up briskly. She could see a person lying pathetically near the lamp post from a fair distance. She almost passed it off for a drunken college kid from Bayport U,but the bloodied shirt made her rethink her decision. It was only when she got closer, she realized who it was...

"Frank!" Lina gasped.

It was only an hour ago the radio hostesses had put up a notification for all the people to keep a look out for the eldest son of Fenton Hardy. Dark hair, Brown eyes, white polo shirt and dark blue jeans and 6'1. Lina hadn't entirely listened to the cause, but she knew the cops were onto him for some 'God knows what' reason. Taking a quick decision Lina quickly took a deep breath and tried to wake up Frank.

"Frank ! wake up! Frank !" she kept calling. The only response she got was_

"please, stop. I can't take this anymore."

At once Lina felt sorry for him. The destructor of all lives; Drugs and Alcohol. She knew without telling that Frank had started using drugs to try and free himself from the mental agony, but it was a common misunderstanding all had. It is all good working and hearty in the beginning, but as the use goes on it only worsens whatever mental agony we have. Once before Lina had pulled Frank to his house in a situation like this, on his first day of school. That in turn had led to their becoming friends, but ofcourse it was a weird kind of friendship not to mention, with Frank's drug use and anger. Making up her mind Lina slowly put his arm over her shoulder and she held his waist trying to balance him on one side. Lina hoped no one would recognize Frank. It was quite a difficult task considering the fact that she was dealing with a famous personality. She had to duck behind trash cans twice to get away from the blaring sirens with an unconscious or a drug influencd sleeping Frank, that she didn't happen to know. She also had to escape a nearby passer, who thank fully didn't recognize Frank, but mentioned him as _ "drunke' boyfriend eh? hard to find sober girls who would do this kind of service for their boyfriends." and he chuckled at his own joke. Lina just simply gave a sad smile. 'It should have been you, Callie' Lina thought mentally. All the way to her house Lina must have debated a hundred times on whether to call Callie or not. The two girls and Vanessa had become best friends in a short period of time. Finally, Lina left the decision for Frank to make when he got up. She adjusted her grip on Frank's waist and walked up her onto Frank, she first looked around, she knew officer Riley had gone on the Frank chase. He had told her that few hours back. It had been on that assurance Lina had gone on her late night she saw no one she took the keys and opened her door and entered. Slowly, after closing the door, she laid Frank leaning on the wall. God! what a day ! ' she thought. She relaxed her shoulders and went to the dining room to get water. Coming to Frank's side, she splashed the water on his face. No response. She repeated the same thing many times. No response. Suspisciously, Lina knelt down and checked his heart rate, she was right: his breathing was shallow.'you are a mess' she thought in sadness.

"Frank, don't let me down now." she told him in a whisper, though she was sure he wouldn't hear her. Lina knew she had only two options in front of her. Number one was call 911. Number two was... well, she dreaded that. It had been years ago and now she was opening the door to that one thing. She let out a sigh, and biting her lip she went on with the Number two.

* * *

It was 3: 00 a.m and eight teenagers sat in the Hardy living room in their night dresses. Chief Collig stood before them going through some file. The eight teenagers, Joe, Biff, Chet, Phil, Tony and the girls, Vanessa, Callie and Lina kept looking at each other. All knew why they had been called. The moment some of them had reached the Hardy residence. They had been briefed upon Frank's recent drug use and his confession to murder. Chief Colig kept the file away and cleared his throat. All the teenagers snapped to attention.

"I take it you all know about what is going on ?" Chief Collig asked mildly. All of them nodded.

"Good then, I don't want you teenagers to come to any conclusions; okay ? you all know Frank for who he is, and there are different ways this could've turned out. Alright ?" They all nodded again. For Callie her eyes were starting to water, but she controlled herself. Sitting next to her Vanessa held her hand as a getsure to remind her that she was there with her. Callie smiled gratefully.

"Did any of you notice anything weird in Frank's behaviour?"

"We did." Phil replied

"and when was that ?"

"Immediately after his return from Kansas" Joe said staring onto the ground. Chief Collig sighed a sigh of relief.

"Could you explain his behaviour ? "

"He didn't talk much. Always acted a bit jumpy or over paranoid, you could say. He was a bit too moody_"

"Forgot tests" Tony interrupted Biff.

"Yeah! forgot tests or presentations. He totally acted like he wasn't Frank at all." Biff finished.

"Whenever in group he would just daze out, you know like just stare at empty air, we would shake him up to tell him lunch was over or practice was over." Vanessa said

"He started to lose his temper real quick, even with the teachers. They didn't suspend him though. Ms. Doddery shook it off as final year tension." Tony said.

"His grades started slipping too, The past month he never joined us for lunch. He'd go somewhere and come back only when the bell rang." Chet said.

Chief Collig nodded as he wrote every thing down.

"What about you two ?' he asked pointing at Lina and Callie.

"I don't know anything much about Frank's history, but I do know a little bit about his capture in June." Lina said thoughtfully. She then paused for awhile "He was dropping me home, and he was uncoordinated. He kept seeing things... like he was hallucinating stuff."

Chief Collig immediately wrote that down. Then he turned to Callie and looked at her expectantly. Callie fixed Chief Collig a stare: not an unkind one. Then she talked.

"Every one told about how Frank had changed, and I certainly agree with it. Frank changed a lot. He brushed me away most of the time..." Callie's voice shook as she spoke. She took a deep breath and composed herself.

"Can I talk about a few things in which he did not change ?" she asked . Chief Collig nodded in sympathy.

"I know he's changed a lot, but a few things that did not change are the guilty look which he has when he knows someone he cares about is hurt even though he never caused it. A kind of protectiveness he has over most of us. The other day, I was talking to Frank about what had happened with the captain of the boxing team. He was giving me the brush off. I followed him and at some point I fell way behind

"Frank, please calm down. I am just worried that's all." Callie argued with her boyfriend.

"Go away Callie." Frank said in a cold rough tone that wasn't his which made Callie wince. He quickly put the books in his locker.

"Why is your locker so messy ? This isn't like you Frank."

Frank didn't answer he just walked off leaving Callie behind in the crowds of students.

"Frank! Frank wait !" He heard Callie call from behind and still he ignored her. God ! did she have to be so persistent. He kept walking ignoring her calls. At some point Frank realized Callie had stopped calling his name abruptly. He turned around. No Callie. He quickly moved back through the swarming students; He saw Callie on the floor picking up her books. From behind her, Lousiana Jones, a girl who had once fallen in love with Frank was laughing. Frank knew this enemity between Callie and Jones had started when he had rejected Jones for Callie. He quietly bent down near Callie and helped her pick up her books. Callie looked surprised.

"Frank !" she exclaimed. She stood up a bit too quickly and would've fallen if frank hadn't caught her and pulled her towards faces met and were only a inch apart. Frank moved in closer.

"Be careful, please" he whispered into her ear, almost pleading with her. The coldness in his voice had vanished. His brown eyes had a look that said 'nothing must happen to you'. For a minute Callie saw that old Frank behind the hard face. She could feel that warmth, when she was in his arms. She was about to thank him when Frank immediately withdrew from her and walked away as if nothing had happened; but for Callie that was enough. She had seen it.

"I saw the real Frank that day, even if it was for a minute" she finished. By now a tear had spilled on her cheek. Joe who had been looking onto the ground all long turned to look at Callie. For a moment both of them understood each other without speaking. Yes. Both of them had seen the real Frank, the Frank behind the cold exterior. The Frank who really, really cared.

Chief Collig turned away from the kids and wiped his eyes which were beginning to water. He had exactly what the Hardy's needed, 'The Flame called Hope'.


	6. Can YOu tell me why ?

**A/n : sorry if there are spelling mistakes.**

 **Chapter - 6**

 **CAN YOU TELL ME WHY ?**

Fenton shook hands with all the parents as they left. officer Riley took Lina home. For now Fenton kept clinging onto the little rope of hope his friend Ezra Collig had given him. Ezra after questioning all of Frank's closest friends had claimed that there are chances that Frank had been either really delusional or that, Frank's earlier confession was something related to what had happened in June. Fenton immediately knew what he had to do. He had to work on the message "we kill the mind'. It was almost a month since that message had come and Fenton was still struggling to figure out which one of his old enemies had come back for revenge. He sank onto the sofa and let out a heavy sigh. 'Why didn't you just come for help ?' he thought sadly. He knew the cops were doing everything in their power to find Frank, but still he found himself restless. He had a feeling that his son was in some sort of danger.

It had been three hours since he had woken up in the weird room with an oxygen mask on his face and a bandage on his head. At first when he had woken up, he had panicked. The room had no door or window. There was a small broken table near his bed with a small table fan on it and a bottle of water. In the right side corner, was a small stair that led straight to a wall. Frank had first thought it to be a secret door and had tried opening it, but no avail. The only thing that kept him from panicking too hard was the name 'LINA' painted everywhere on the walls in red. Frank guessed it had to be a secret store room or something. Three hours he spent snooping around curiously looking into the contents of many boxes that lay there. To his surprise he found many medical supplies in those boxes. No one he knew was that sick in Lina's house. After finishing the first three boxes he went to look into the fourth box which said 'Not to be touched' . Frank opened it and he received the shock of his life, inside it were drugs, not just any drugs, the same drugs he was using. There were a lot of discarded syringes. Frank took a look at it; there was no doubt that these were the same kind of syringes he was using. He quickly went through the other boxes. Two boxes contained drugs some known to him and others were greek and latin. He opened up a few more boxes; inside those were albums. Frank took an album and opened it. The first picture in the album was of a cute little baby dressed in pink. Underneath the photo the was a title 'second child, baby girl.' Frank guessed that the baby girl was Lina; probably her parents had taken a longer time to figure out a name, but still second child ? that was confusing. He looked through few more photographs which showed a grown up Lina. One had been titled saying 'Lina with best friend Mary first grade'. Lina had short black hair then and she wore a strawberry pink frock which felt weird to Frank, because he was used to seeing Lina in the same seventies style dress; the same loose full sleeve top and loose pants and hair up in a bun with the same slide view clip. She wore no accesories except for a chain with an oval pendant. Another picture was with Lina's grandparents. The old couple was standing with bright smiles and there stood three children in front of them, two girls and a boy. Frank didn't have to guess to know that the girl in the middle was Lina, she was the youngest in the photograph. He read the title Vera (16) , Li - the rest had been torn off. Frank assumed that the other two were her cousins. He dug his hand deeper into the pile of old photo album. He suddenly winced in pain as his hand hit something sharp. He put his finger in his mouth to relieve himself of the pain. He then again pushed the piles of albums into a corner and figured what had injured his finger. It was an old photo frame. Inside it was a picture of Lina with an older boy boy whom he didn't know. Frank almost felt jealous; why ? he didn't know. They had their arms on each others shoulder. Both of them were smiling brightly. Frank was about to remove the photo from the frame to read the title when a voice stopped him.

"You've done quite some detective work here." Lina said in a tone that felt quite different to him. He turned to face her.

"Lina ?" He looked around and realized from where she had come. The stair that led to the wall, wasn't actually a wall ; it was a door , just like he had suspected.

"How did I land up here ? and what exactly is this place ?" Frank asked.

"You were lying on the sidewalk yesterday or I guess today at 2:00 a.m in the morning muttering something about not being able to take it anymore." Lina said and Frank's face turned red. God! he was mess.

"I saw you there and had to pull you here, because the cops were onto you at that time. I didn't have the heart to leave you there. I _"

"Wait !" Frank interrupted "did you say cops ? Why were they onto me ?"

"You don't remember anything ?" Lina asked looking at him with no expression at all on her face.

"Wait ! oh ! no...Dad!" Frank suddenly realized what had happened. His confession had resulted in his dad calling the cops to figure it out. He did not know if what he felt at that moment was hurt because of betrayal or anger because his dad had done something like that without even asking him for a reason. Deep down inside he knew it was his fault all this mess had been created.

"How could he ?" Frank said under his breath which Lina heard.

"Now, now Frank we don't want to be judgemental do we ? Not every one is lucky in this world to have a perfect father in law enforcement or a younger sibiling who understands the elder sibiling or a girlfriend who sticks to the boy friend's good qualities than the bad or friends who are quite understanding." Lina said. Frank didn't know why,but he kind of felt a bit of coldness in Lina's serene tone. 'You are going insane ' he told himself.

"What happened ?" he asked.

"Chief Collig called us to know about your behavioural changes. Your friends and your brother stuck up for you saying you changed only after your ordeal in June. They said that they still saw the old you once in a blue moon. That is what made Chief Collig believe that you didn't actually kill a man in a drug fight." Lina said as she bent down to clear the mess Frank had made during his snooping.

Frank felt the anger he had few minutes ago melt away when he heard what Lina said. He knew he had done great injustice to his friends and Callie and most of all Joe. He found himself sitting on the edge of the cot and repenting.

"Anyway, the cops did not find much murders, except that a guy died while he got hit on the head by a mugger, which can't be you and a man who got pushed off the bridge in June, but that can't be you either because it happened when you were in Kansas. Atleast that's what I gathered. So that leaves us with a man killed during a drug fight by a teenager, but that wasn't you either because the teenager had more build than you."

Frank sighed a sign of relief, but still his mind played what he had couldn't shake it. That was when a few nagging questions came to his mind.

"So, what is_"

"A secret store room within a store room underneath the house." Lina replied before Frank could question.

"And you did this ?" Frank asked. Lina turned to see where Frank was looking.

"Hardly matters." was Lina's reply when she saw Frank staring at the wall. She continued putting away all the stuff on the floor.

Frank came to sit down next to where Lina was putting away things.

"That day when I asked you, you lied to me. You did what I was doing right ? You used drugs too. Thats how you knew I was using too right ? Frank asked softly. Lina did not answer him back she just kept quiet and continued her cleaning. She did not even pause at Frank's question. Frank could not read her expression. He still found her calm and expressionless if something like that was possible.

"Why do you have so many medical supplies ?" Frank asked.

"Grand mother." Lina replied.

"You mean your grandmother spent her ill time here ? I don't even know how we're able to breathe in this place there's no window and you've locked the door." Frank said incredulously. Lina was acting different even though she seemed normal.

"There is a hole in the door that helps us breathe. A curtain is put over it so no one actually knows. When the room's use is over the hole is shut." Lina replied in a calm voice.

"Still doesn't explain why your grand mother was in here. She could have been better off in the house than under it." Frank said.

Lina didn't answer again. Frank was beginning to get curious by the minute.

"Can you tell me why you brought me here ?" Frank asked his detective instincts rising. He was beginning to wonder if Lina had actually kidnapped him. 'I mean she said I was lying on the sidewalk and she found me at 2:oo a.m. What was she doing outside at that time ?'

"Listen carefully Frank, if you think I am one of those vengeful kidnappers from your secret missions and detective work, all I can tell you is I am not. Feel free to walk out that door anytime you want." Lina replied and Frank immediately felt guilty. Still there were many nagging questions in his mind about Lina. Without thinking he asked "I thought you were the only child why did that photograph say second child ? "

At first Lina blinked cluelessly or atleast that was what Frank had assumed. Then realization seemed to hit her.

"I am the second and the last girl child in the family. " she said simply.

"The first being Vera." Frank said and then when Lina looked at him, he said "Sorry."

"Its your nature I don't blame you. "

"The picture said she was sixteen and you were about four and there was another guy, Vera's brother or another cousin ?" Frank went on. He started getting conscious of the fact that he was prying too much, but Lina seemed too mysterious of a figure now. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something to her.

" 12 years of difference between us. Vera's brother." Lina said giving what seemed to be incomplete answers. Frank figured that she meant that the other guy was Vera's brother. He didn't ask anymore questions but silently watched Lina put back all the mess.

"How's Joe ?" he asked after sometime. Lina gave a slight small smile.

"He is sad. Hoping you are safe. He trusts you, and doesn't for a second believe you are rogue or anything." Lina said, as she looked at Frank directly. Frank turned his eyes away from Lina's gaze. He felt guilty already he didn't want Lina to bore it into his mind.

"Go home, Frank. Go. Tell every one you're sorry and stop doing what you're doing." Lina said

Frank's anger suddenly flared up. "Easy for you to say that huh ? you were just a drug addict. You have no idea what I am going through." he shouted and took a step forward towards Lina. He held her shirt and shook her "Don't you ever tell me what to do."

Lina did not even flinch. Her face remained calm. Once Frank had finished his threat, she quietly left him and went upstairs. It took almost half an hour for the realiztion to sink in. He put his hand through his hair and rubbed it in total frustration. 'why did he mess things up ?' Lina had been so nice to him. She had brought him news on Joe and the rest. She had saved him from the cops to an extent and he had threatened her. Literally threatened her. He quickly opened the secret door and went into the living room.

"Lina !" he called "Lina I'm sorry". No answer. On the dining room table was a note.

 _Frank,_

 _Aunty and Uncle won't be here for three weeks. If you wish you can stay in my house. Lunch is in the fridge. I live at Officer Riley's house now. If you can, please stay in the so that no one will know. In the day time if you feel borred in the S. room, My shelf might have something to interest you. At night please stick to the S. room so that no one will see any sign of light. No matter what happens please do not open the front door. I'll come through the back. If you need anything please text my phone saying INS or INH._

 _please tear after reading._

Frank tore the note into pieces. He felt hurt. Not by the letter, but by the usage of please. He had told her so harshly not to ever tell him to do anything. So she had written 'please' as a way of requesting. Frank felt so bad. He had never behaved inappropriately towards a girl. He had nearly rough handled her ; wait, nearly, no not nearly, had actually rough handled her. He went back to the secret room and wept like a five year old. He had hurt Joe, Callie, Chet, Vanessa, Tony , Phil and now he had hurt Lina. He did not know why, but he actually found himself liking Lina these days. Ever since she had accepted saving him, they had become friends. The month after that had been crazy. He had been inflicting wounds on himself to try and stay sane. He had not paid attention to Joe and the others. Lina though, didn't seem to care if he was listening or not. She had kept on talking about Physics this, Chemistry that. Frank could tell that she had contributed her help by talking away, because he wouldn't have even gotten a 'C' in his tests if something Lina had told had not registered in his mind. Now, she had gone out of the way to help him. 'why didn't he just atleast tell Joe?" Frank didn't know for how long he wept,but soon he drifted off to a sleep.

One week had passed, and the cops still hadn't found Frank. The group always sat during lunch trying to figure out what could've happened to Frank in June as that seemed to be the key to all problems. Joe seemed to be suffering a disabilty in his detective skills without Frank. He too was starting to get impatient and the group had become moody. Rumors spread around the school like wildfire. The group had to at all times keep their head down. People taunted Phil and Chet as they were weaker, they were afraid to come near Joe, Biff or Tony because of their intimidating personalities. The jealous girls who had all once fallen in love with Frank Hardy and been rejected for Callie took their chance when she was alone.

"He killed himself did he ? unable to stand you ?" this was Lousiana Jones.

"Maybe, he ran away with another girl." another named Mellie Malter commented

"or maybe, Hardy is dead, because Shaw killed him. Didn't he kiss you well Shaw ? or maybe he just chea_" Ruby Dooms didn't get to finish her insult, because by then Callie had hook punched her right in the face and her nose had started to bleed.

"or how about I just doom your face Dooms. You wretched daughter of a bloody corporate firm ! You fu..." Callie didn't get to complete her insult, because Lina and Vanessa pulled her away. Ms. Dooms went wailing to the nearest teacher.

"Callie, control yourself." Vanessa said afraid that Dooms might call her father and then it would be real dooming.

"You know who her father is, don't get him coming, becau_"

"What is her father ? The freaking money God ! You can ask him to go to hell. That bloody girl is just the daughter of a lowlife scumbag, who feeds on the sweat of innocent people. Tell your damned father that when Frank Hardy comes back he's going to break that bloody scumbag of a father into nothing but garbage and throw him into the trash can !" Callie shouted, making the whole school turn to her. In total Callie had the entire school's attention on her. She would have continued her insults if the two girls hadn't pulled her away.

"Nice hook punch" Lina commented once they were away, and Callie smiled. "Frank taught me that."

Being the end of school they were able to get away easily. The girls were on the way to Mr. Pizza to meet the guys, and none of them noticed the two men lurking in the shadows.

" _Note it. It's the blond one." Valder said._

 _"bu..but there are two blonds" Francis said._

 _"You idiot. its the girl in the middle." Valder said._

 _"Oh! oh! alright" Francis said as he took aim of the bow. His hands were trembling. "should we do it now ? there are people around you know ?"_

 _Valder hit the man hard and the man winced in pain._

 _"You let them get away !" Valder shouted._

"So what's your plan Joe ?" Vanessa asked. She knew he hadn't slept in worry all of last week.

"I have told Jack Wayne to meet us there. He pulled in some favours yesterday and found some interesting things." Joe said eagerly.

"What did he find out ?" Tony asked curiously.

"He didn't tell me anything over the phone, but told us to meet him there." Joe said a smile falling on his tired face for the first time in days.

There was no difficulty in finding Wayne in the park. They handsome young man, who was the private pilot for Mr. Hardy had been of great help on many of the boys's cases.

"Jack! " Joe called as he and Wayne hugged.

"Interesting news for you Joe." Wayne said winking at the teenagers.

"what is it ?" Biff asked. He looked like he was about to burst with excitement.

"Oh! please Jack, don't keep us waiting" Phil and Vanessa said.

"Alright. Sit down." Jack said and they all did. Waiting impatiently for a start.

"Yesterday, Joe, after you asked me to do some searching. I went to my cousin's wife, who works as an air hostess there. She has a photographic memory you see. So, I asked if she remembered anything weird that happened in June. At first she said no. Luckily, she happened to ask a friend who said that she saw some weird occuring in the west entrance of the airport."

"Wait. Did you just say west entrance ?" Joe asked eagerly.

"Yeah. why ?" Jack asked. The others curiously leaned forward.

"Frank and I ate pizza and he left for the airport deciding to take tthe west entrance."

"Aha ! Then you're gonna like this." Wayne said and continued "The friend whom I was talking about noticed two hefty men punching a felt it weird. I asked her to describe the boy and her description matched Frank."

Joe and the others looked excited. Joe was sure that the two hefty men were Frank's kidnappers.

"Why didn't that friend inform the cops then ?" Vanessa asked.

"According to her, she found it too serious to be a street fight, but she didn't think the cops would take her seriously." Jack told them.

"Any ways, I asked my cousin's wife if she remembered a Frank Hardy, she said she did remember well about a fight with the front guard created by a Frank Hardy, the airport officials had to pull him away. "

"But that isn't like Frank." Callie interrupted.

"Exactly ! It isn't like Frank, because that wasn't our Frank at all." Wayne said and the others gasped. Joe and Phil looked at each other.

"what do you mean ? " Chet asked. "Frank said he went to Kansas."

"He lied to you I guess, because it was an imposter who went in the real Frank's place. My cousin's wife said that it was no teenager. It was a man."

"You suspiscions were right Phil." Joe said a glint of hope shining in his eyes.

"Can you tell me why he would lie to us ?" Callie asked.

"That is something we will find out eventually. " Joe said with a firm face.

"I don't know how to thank you Jack. Thanks a lot." Joe said as they made a parting hug."

"Anytime Joe. Anytime." Jack said and left.

"So, Frank never actually went to Kansas." Tony said letting the truth sink in. All this time they had been thinking Frank had gotten kidnapped in Kansas. Phil was the wisest to think otherwise.

"The cops must have only checked out if there was a Frank Hardy on that plane." Biff said and Joe continued "They didn't know it was an imposter."

"Interesting." Lina commented. "It would take a Psychic to figure this one out now."

Joe smiled. He finally had something to tell dad.

"This means we have the homeground advantage right?" Lina asked.

"Yes." Joe said.

Now the group had new hope. All kept discussing on what to do. All except Phil who was deep in thought.

"Phil ? Phil ?" Biff called concerned.

Phil turned to them with an enlightened look on his face.

"Lina what did you say again ?" he asked.

"Now ? well I said It's good thing God's on our side." she said serenely.

"No. No. No. No. Before that."

"I said it would take a Psychic _" Lina didn't get to grabbed her for a bear hug.

"Psychic ! Yes ! Why didn't I remember before ?" Phil shouted in such a way that the entire street heard him."

"New York's Psychiatric Research Organization. NYPRO!" Phil shouted excited.

"You're a genius Lina !" Phil said and Joe laughed at the confused innocent look on Lina's face. "Glad to help." she said.

"So, Phil what kind of enlightenment did you receive ?" Callie asked.

"Harrington ! The list ! Now I remember !" Phil exclaimed.

"The list with the names ?" Chet asked. He hadn't liked the list at all when Joe and Phil told him about it.

"Okay. Phil, calm down and tell us." Joe said.

"Nathan Harrington. that's were I heard the name before. He was the director of NYPRO." Phil said.

"But the list said James Harrington" Biff remembered.

"James Harrington was his son. He died in some fire when he was thirteen years old." Phil said. "I remember reading an aricle like that while doing last year's science project about Psychology.

Joe looked at Phil. A moment's mental communication passed through them. Something clicked in Phil's head and he knew that Joe felt the same.

"The audio." Phil said excited.

"What ?" Tony and Callie asked.

Joe hadn't shown them the audio. So he said "Guys there is something you need to hear."


	7. The way of the world

**Chapter - 7**

 **THE WAY OF THE WORLD**

Frank sat on the sofa trying to push away the teriifying and mysterious events of the evening. The mysterious lady and now Lina in this state. What had happened he could not guess. He slowly pictured the events in his mind without panicking or anxiety. He had been waiting earlier in the evening to discuss a few things with Lina. The past week, Lina had been kind enough to give him updates on his brother's search for him. Frank felt concern rise in him, but it came out as anger, which he showed on the chinaware in Lina's house. 'The Psyche should not know about Joe', he kept thinking. He made a plan to sidetrack Joe from his investigation. He was mad at his brother for going through his personal stuff, but at the moment he couldn't do anything. He was glad that he had memorized every single letter his dealer had given him including last month's ( that was a tough one). Any way, the plan to sidetrack Joe wouldn't happen unless Lina agreed and he had been impatiently been waiting in the darkness of the living room. He didn't dare on the light, for the fear of inquisitive neighbors.

He kept looking at the luminiscent clock every five minutes. It had been almost 6:30 p.m and Lina had still not arrived. He felt a growing concern in his chest. Maybe, he should just go search for her, but then he remembered Lina's request to not come out to get her. The past week, Frank noted that Lina was more mysterious than ever. She would bring him dinner, but most of the time she would be sitting thoughtful as if she was playing a game of chess with her own self. Once Frank had asked her why she had painted her name on the walls in red paint and Lina had winced or maybe grimaced, he couldn't exactly identify. Anyway, he didn't know why, but he felt a kind of chill during the night in the secret room with the name written. It was almost a haunted cold dead feeling. More like he was sleeping in a graveyard. When he had mentioned the graveyard feeling to her, he had almost expected to get a slap, or wait, maybe not a slap , but altleast a glare from her. Instead, he got a thoughtful nod. Every day Frank discovered something mysterious about his hostess. He was absolutely sure that Lina telling Joe that she hadn't been to Bayport before was a lie. There was no way she could've found a secret door in four months time or had a grandmother to look after in that short period. He felt it surprising that Lina would forget a lie like that so quick and let slip about her grandmother, and then the drugs, that just didn't add up. Frank kept wondering if Lina had let slip on purpose. Anyway he kept quiet about it. He looked at the watch again, it was nearing 7:00 p.m and Frank was beginning to get concerned. He didn't mind the dark, he was just worried that Lina might have gotten herself into trouble. Just when he was about to get up from the sofa. He heard the back door open, he sighed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, his relief did not last long

"Lina !" a lady called and Frank froze. He quietly tip toed to the store room and thanked his stars it was not far away from the living room. He listened not daring to breathe. 'who was this ?'

"Lina ! please, I just want to talk." the lady said.

Frank guessed the lady was still near the kitchen, because that's where the back door was located.

"Lina, tell me what did you hear ? or...or I guess . how did you hear ?" the lady asked and Frank felt confused. No one he knew had a key to the backdoor except Lina. So, who was this lady? How did she know Lina's house ? and more importantly how did she have the key to the back door ? He slowly ventured to come out but ducked back into the store room. The lady had come into the living room. Even though it was dark Frank could make her out. She wore jeans and a purple or brown blouse. She had long jet black hair till her waist which camouflaged with her surroundings.

"Listen." she said again "whether you are listening to me or not, I just want to get this out of my chest okay ? I know that recently I have not been your most likeable person, sorry. I wanted to apologise when you came today. I know its hard, but you have to get yourself together. You remember the last words right ? So, I guess what I wanted to tell you was I acted immature then, I 'm really sorry." she paused for some time trying to keep her voice from breaking.

"I was twenty two then, I should have acted reasonable, but I didn't. I want to get to know you now. I want to do things together. I know you heard the news of my wedding. The groom is Damon Clauster from med school. You remember him ?"

Frank was tempted to say 'no.', but he kept quiet. The lady seemed to be talking to herself now. He just listened curiously as she went on.

"Well, he proposed to me three months back in June. You can imagine my shock. I didn't know what to do, I just agreed. Dad and Mom were happy you know ? but I know you are mad at me for that."

Frank nearly fell in shock. 'Lina ! mad ! at someone ! impossible!' he thought.

"I realized you were right. Once Damon and I get married old memories will become an obstacle in our lives. He will find what I'm doing a hindrance, and when we have kids its only going to be worse." she took a deep breath and then continued "Lina, I decided that I'm not getting married. I'm breaking off the wedding with Clauster tomorrow. For your sake, my sake and for the sake of old times." In the last line her voice broke and Frank was shocked. He wasn't able to react for sometime. He heard the scribbling of pencil on paper. Whoever it was had no problem of being in the dark and before he could actually reason with himself. The door was shut. He figured the lady had left.

Frank came out of the store room and a dozen questions passed through his head. It was a familiar feeling for him these days. 'Who was that mystery lady ? How did she know Lina ? What was she to her ? What was she apologising for ? Why should she break off her wedding for Lina or for some old memory ? As he kept thinking he almost tripped over something small. He bent down and picked it up. It was a phone. 'This wasn't here before.' He acidentally pressed the okay button and it started playing

 _"whether you are listening..._

It was then Frank realized that the lady hadn't simply wasted her time talking to darkness. She had wanted to make an apology when she was ready and when she found Lina wasn't there, she had recorded it for her to hear. Frank tucked the phone into his pocket feeling all the more mystified about these weird occurances.

It was 8:00 p.m when Frank heard the door open with a furious force and was closed with a loud bang that made Frank flinch. He heard a low whimpering sound which he recognized as Lina's voice. 'What had happened ?' He got up from the sofa and went to confront her. Lina ran up the stairs nearly pushing Frank.

"Lina !" Frank called as he stumbled after her. The surroundings weren't that familiar to him in the dark. He heard another bang. Frank went upto her room and knocked on the door. As expected he received no answer. He heard Lina's muffled sobbing and his concern grew by every second. He heard many things crash onto the floor and a frustrated scream.

"Lina !" Frank called banging on the door. He knew something had gone disastrously wrong. "What did you hear ?" the mysterious lady had asked. Frank sat down dejected, leaning on the door . He noticed something on the floor. He took it and felt it. It was some sort of sticker. He strained his eyes in the dark to read it. 'VISITOR'S PASS' it read and Frank strained his eyes again to know if he had read right. He heard more screaming and more things crashed to the floor.

"Lina ! open the door." Frank ordered. He heard nothing for sometime and then he heard a loud crash. Frank immediately jumped up and banged on the door.

"Lina ! Lina ! are you alright ?" Fearing the worst, Frank kicked the door open and was surprised when it opened. He rushed in and saw Lina lying on the floor clinging onto a blanket. He quickly got down to his knees beside her and shook her shoulder.

"Lina. Lina." He knew she was conscious because she was sobbing softly.

"Talk to me." Frank said, but received no response. A dim light radiated from the night lamp and Frank was able to see her face. . She lay down clinging onto the blanket and sobbing into it. Frank gently pulled her to his side. That was when he noticed blood trickling from the side of her head.

"Lina ! Lina !" Frank shook her but she lay on his shoulder sobbing.

"you're hurt !" Frank exclaimed.

Frank didn't understand what had upset her so much. He looked at the things strewn around. Frank looked up in a prayer to the force above to tell him what was going on. He noticed the ceiling fan was shaking. 'Blanket. Shaking Fan. Hurt Lina on the floor. oh - uh ! that wasn't good.'

"Lina what were you trying to do ?" Frank asked fearing the worst explanation.

"Lina ? " Frank asked as he turned to her and shook her shoulders. She only wept harder.

"Please, Lina don't tell me you were doing the most senseless act of a lifetime" Frank pleaded. His eyes showed fear. She cried harder and screamed at Frank.

"Lina ! Answer me !" Frank shouted at her and immediately felt guilty, but he needed answers. What was the mystery surrounding Lina ? Then in a soft voice that was only audible to her he murmured.

"You weren't ... try...trying to .. to ki...yourself ? " somehow Frank wasn't able to say that word. Lina who never ever once lost her composure, who didn't care about the faults the world had, she almost was a saintly figure to Frank. Now, she was in his arms, sobbing like life and death.

"Lina ?" Frank whispered.

She screamed at him and he flinched. This confirmed that his question had got through.

"I can't die. I can't. You just don't care what happens. You are not bound to anything. I am and I can't die." she sobbed.

Frank felt a chill run down his spine.

"I heard, Frank. I heard." Lina sobbed into his chest.

The last words she had said rang in his ears.

"What had she heard ?" he thought loudly. He was now sitting staring at the note the mysterious lady had left on the table. A dim light burned in the living room. He wasn't able to stay in the dark anymore so he had turned on the dim fluorescent light. It had hurt Frank more than anything when Lina had said that he didn't care. Is that what every body thought about him ?. No, no,no. Lina had told him in detail what the others had thought about him. Frank was broken from his thoughts when he heard Lina's voice. It startled him.

"what do you want to eat ?" she asked the tone of her voice back to the serene one. Frank didn't know how to get used to the dual personalities.

"uh... actually nothing." Frank said then pointed to the note on the table and took out the phone from the pocket and gave it to her. Frank could've sworn that Lina's face had darkened a bit.

"Do you have something on your mind Frank ?" Lina asked as she read the note.

"uh... yes actually" Frank said glad to have something to distract Lina with. Lina looked at him and gave him a look that said 'still listening'

"I have a place to check out." he said "I was wondering if you could come along."

Lina smiled thoughtfully "Fine."

Frank looked at his watch it was 10:00 p.m. He had his hood up and so did Lina. She was wearing a jacket over her usual outfit. A few more blocks and he would get there. A few patrol cars passed by them but they did not notice the two teenagers. Finally, they successfully made it to the abandoned building, that is if you could actually call it one. It more or less looked like a shelter for tramps. Frank gently opened the door, and waited for Lina to go in. At first Frank could notice the hesitation on Lina's face, but she went in. What they saw stunned Frank, there were different types of pictures of archers. The run down building had different kinds of bows and quivers hung on its walls.

"I wonder who owns this place ?" Frank said as he examined the walls.

Different kinds of arrows were used for the target boards. A particular arrow caught Frank's attention. That particular arrow had struck the centre of every single target board in the room. Frank went upto one of the target boards and pulled out an arrow.

"looks familiar" he murmured to himself. He looked at the end part of the arrow, the tag read in bold letters 'thearcher91' . He looked at every arrow that had struck the centre, each of those arrows had been struck by 'thearcher91'.

"this guy could really participate in the olympics." Frank commented looking at Lina. She just gave a sad thoughtful nod.

"except if he wasn't a criminal." Frank said.

"what makes you think he is a criminal ?" Lina questioned quietly.

"This was the same kind of arrow that hit me last month." Frank said. Lina looked at the arrow and frowned.

"really."

Frank nodded. They went upstairs and Frank found five computer systems.

"I wonder what kind of office this was." Frank said. He took a look at the papers lying on the floor.

"Bayport's academy of Archery and Fencing." Frank read aloud.

"That explains the quivers and bows then." Lina said.

He then went to the corner of the room and found different kinds of arrows, with tags that said 'thearcher91'.

"This is it. the archer 91 is after me."

"For what reason ? " Lina asked.

"I believe he is related to the 'Psyche'. He wants revenge for what I did to the 'Psyche'." he said and threw a quiver onto the floor."

"How do you know that ?" Lina asked putting up her thoughtful look.

"Bard told me."

"Bard ?" Lina questioned giving a frowning expression atleast that was what Frank thought. It was hard to read Lina.

"uh... My dealer."

Lina gave a 'oh. I see.' look and continued looking around.

Frank took another quiver with the same tag. This time he found a name.

"So, this is the archer 91 's true name huh ?" Lina froze.

"what?" she asked.

"Francis Mc Connery." Frank said and Lina went to look at the name.

"Mc Connery looks like blasted name." Lina said serenely, but Frank who was at that moment looking at her could tell she was seeing it with a cold gaze.

"It is blasted." Frank agreed. "I plan on going to the BAAF, tomorrow in the morning at 5:00 a.m. It's not far from your home and we can avoid spectators at that time."

"Frank, don't you think its a bit risky ?" Lina asked.

"Lina, this archer 91, Mc Connery is coming after me for revenge. I don't want Joe involved in my problems. You must sidetrack him."

Lina lookeed at him and frowned.

"Please." Frank said.

"I promise I wouldn't play a direct part in in solving your problems with Joe and the others."

"Thanks Lina." Frank smiled gratefully at her. "Lets go home."

Lina agreed. She ofcourse had other plans in her mind.

* * *

The drug dealer quietly entered his place of stock. He nearly screamed when he saw the teenager in front of him.

"You ?" he asked in horror. His eyes wildly darting around.

"Yes."

"I...I... you were a..."

"I know Bard. Children grow."

The man flinched when the teenager mentioned his name.

"How is ..." Bard was about to ask but stopped halfway thinking better not to ask.

"You gave the address."

Bard's face paled "you know ? How ?"

"You do know why I have come back, don't you ?"

Bard gulped and nodded.

"How did you know I was still in Bayport ?" the man asked fear threatening to trample him.

"I saw you in the mall, last month." the teenager replied.

"No way." Bard whispered.

"How many times I have seen you ? how many times you used to scare me away ? how many times you killed ? How many times you used to sneak through the back entrance ? I know your face more than I know his."

Bard trembled. True. He had scared the teenager as a child, but now he was terrified of what he had done, and this teenager was a reminder of the days he wished to forget. The teenager scared him more than his previous master.

"I have star...st...started over. New life, you see." Bard stammered pathetically.

"I din't think so. You are still selling drugs to teenagers." the teenager said.

"I ain't working for that creep fella anymore." Bard said.

"Then how come you gave Frank Hardy that address ?"

Bard trembled. "I... he asked for some help. I ain't fooling."

"Alright, so what was Mc Connery doing in the bunk all these years ?"

Bard's lip quivered. "I never saw that freaking boy after last time. He did the bunkin' I guess."

Then he pleaded with the teenager again "I jus' wanted to help the kid."

"If you wanted to help him, you wouldn't have given him drugs." the teenager said with a smile.

"I'll look into Mc Connery if you want. Tell him to clear off. I still have nightmares about last time. I wanted to save that Hardy kid, but he disappeared."

"You don't have to worry about Hardy. He already taken care off. All you have to do is keep quiet."

"You know where Hardy is ? The cops are looking for him. His father was the guy who you know_"

"I know. Interesting isn't it what Mr. Hardy would do for his own son ? , but unfortunately the Yakuza was more important to him, because the words of a lonely, deranged person doesn't carry enough weight."

"But he saved_" Bard interrupted.

"Yeah he did." the teenager replied sarcastically "Only thing he was too late, now his son is suffering and he is able to feel the pain."

Bard stayed silent. He knew that the teenager was damned right. He remembered that windy evening when Mr. Hardy opened his door and shut it back again right onto the face

"Sorry. see you are delusional. You have to go to a doctor." Mr. Hardy said

 **"I am not mad ! If you could just please listen to me. You are the only person who can help me." all pleading fell onto deaf ears.**

"Listen. I don't have time for this."

 **"but please, I need help, what would you do if it was your son, would you lock him out too ?"**

"My sons are perfectly level headed boys, thank you." Mr. Hardy said with a bit of pride in his voice. Frank was ten years old and Joe was nine and both of them were well appreciated by the people.

 **"Don't, please Don't." but the door slammed right onto the face.**

He had witnessed this all at a fair distance. The pride of the father was his two children. At that time Bard had no faith in good or bad, but years later now when he recalled past events. He remembered the distraught face that had asked for help. Bard let a grin come onto his face. Mr. Hardy had turned down the poor soul that had asked for help, and now when his son was a runaway, he was thinking why his son had never come for help.

The teenager smiled at Bard. "Old memories I suppose."

"just been thinkin'. Mr. Hardy must be wondering why his level headed son did not ask for help." Bard said sadly with a knowing glance at the teenager in front of him.

Bard had realized now that the universe made people pay for every action they commited. He could now tell that the pain of that poor soul was so much that even the universe couldn't bear it. It seemed like God himself had cursed Mr. Hardy, and now only one person could save the Hardy family without breaking a sweat.

 **" Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."** the teenager quoted Newton's third law of motion and took down the hood that was covering the face.

"You are right, Ms. John." Bard said.


	8. Who Am I ?

**Chapter - 8**

 **Who Am I ?**

" Valder !"

A tall well built man appeared.

"Sir."

"Have you brought him ?" asked the Psyche.

"Yes sir, he has suffered, but we still don't know his hideout. Found him in the park."

"I don't care about his hideout, Valder, he still has a lot to suffer." The Psyche said in a cold tone.

"Bring him in" Valder told two men behind him.

The dark haired, unconscious, teenager was placed upon the table. The Psyche gently carresed the teenagers face with his palm.

"Poor, poor, Franky." he murmured, and injected something onto the right arm. Frank slowly opened his eyes , and nearly screamed when he saw who was standing in front of him. Cloth was stuffed into his mouth to keep him from shouting. Frank tried to escape from the iron grip of the men holding him.

"Franky, Franky, don't worry, we're just going to get another side of yours outside." The Psyche said as he swung a pendulum back and forth in front of Frank's eyes. Frank's eyes widened, 'No. No. No, he couldn't let this happen '

"You are going to sleep now, you are going to sleep, its going to be a peaceful sleep."

Frank tried to look somewhere else, but the men had a tight grip over him.

"You need to relax, you are tired and you are going to sleep." The Psyche said in a dangerously soothing voice that scared Frank. Frank slowly wanted to succumb to the darkness to sleep and sleep and to never wake up. He shook himself and tried to distract himself.

" What are you going to do, Frank ?"

" I am going to sleep." Frank answered in a trance. Slowly he closed his eyes , and the fight went out of him.

"Tell me now, who are you ?" The Psyche asked in the same soothing voice.

"I am Frank Hardy." Frank replied from his trance like state.

"What is your full name ?" The Psyche asked again

"Franklin Irving Hardy" Frank answered.

"Are you sure ?"

"Yes." Frank answered.

"You are in a different world. There is no one by the name Franklin Irving Hardy." The Psyche said in a soothing matter- of- fact tone. "Remember, you do not know who you are. You are nobody. Understand ? "

"I understand." Frank replied.

"So, who are you ?"

" I don't know who I am. I am nobody."

"Franklin Irving Hardy is dead." The Psyche said, and Frank repeated

"Franklin Irving Hardy is dead."

"Where is he ?" The Psyche asked

"Franklin Irving Hardy is dead." Frank replied.

"Ask me, ask me 'who am I ?' " The Psyche said in an insane tone.

"Who am I ?" Frank asked in his tranced state.

"You are the toxótis . Who are you ?"

"The toxótis " Frank answered.

"Your message to your father Cronous shall be as I say, Do you agree ?"

"I agree." Frank answered

The Psyche waved his hand at Valder signalling him to pick up Frank's phone. Immediately Valder knew what to do. He smiled wickedly and typed the message

* * *

Joe Hardy sat in his brother's room going through the old memories of them growing up, their father teaching them how to surf, their horrible vacation with Aunt Gertrude three years ago. Joe remembered that day like yesterday. Frank was 15 years and he was 14. Their parents had gone for an alone time vacation to Chicago, and Aunt Gertrude had taken them to the country to stay with a friend of hers; ' The one eyed Gargoyle' Joe had named the short tempered old lady who had asked Joe to clean the 3 ft. disgusting pond behind her backyard for breaking her ancestral cat vase. Joe smiled fondly at the memory, it was Frank who had cleaned the pond that day while he was enjoying a day out with the girl in the next farm house. The very next day, Frank had fallen ill, and they were brought back to Bayport. Joe had apologised to Frank nearly fifty times that day. The vibration of the phone in his pocket brought him back to the present. He looked at the screen and Joe's eyes popped out of his skull. He quickly read the message, it said

 _Meet me at the park._

 _Frank._

Joe could have sworn that he had never driven so fast in his life. No cruiser was after him, so he figured he was safe. He jumped out of the driver's seat, slammed the door of the van shut and looked around. He spotted a figure in black slowly swinging back and forth. 'It has to be Frank' Joe thought and walked towards the swing. To his relief it was his brother.

"Frank !" Joe called as he rushed to hug his brother. He was about to put his arms around Frank's neck when he gripped his hand with surprising force. Joe backed away confused.

"Frank ! Its me , Joe." he said as he took a step towards him.

"Franklin Irving Hardy is dead." Frank said, and Joe would have laughed if it weren't for the look on his brother's face.

"No you are not. You are standing right here." Joe said bewildered by what his brother was saying. He was even more surprised by the use of the middle name. Frank never used his middle name, he had hated it.

" I am 'The toxotis'." Frank said in his trance.

Joe's jaw touched the ground. For the next few minutes it was like he was in a dream.

"You are Frank, Frank Hardy." Joe said shaking his brother. "snap out of whatever this is.

"Den eímai aftós Pou nomízeis eímai "

"What the... what ?" Joe asked incredulously.

" To éna Pou Zita den paírnei típota. Aftós Pou den zitáei ta paírnei ola ." he said and laughed.

Joe looked at Frank as if he was seeing a ghost.

" Pes you patéra mas, akómi kai o Theo's den that ton synchorései" this one Frank said in a cold tone, that scared the daylights out of Joe.

"What ? What the hell is this supposed to mean ?" Joe asked as Frank got up from his swing and staggered. Joe was about to get hold of his brother when a heavy object came crashing onto his head. The last thing Joe saw was his own brother falling unconscious into the hands of two hefty men. He tried to call, but his voice was weak. He soon blacked out.

 **Author's note : Sorry for the late update. Had to do a lot of thinking on this chapter. Hope the wait was worth it. Thank you all for your support. : ) . I promise that the next will be longer and more interesting.**


	9. A criminal or The Devil

Chapter - 9

 **WHO ARE WE DEALING WITH ?**

 **A CRIMINAL OR THE DEVIL**

"Good God Joe ! Please wake up for the love of God" Tony said as he kept slapping Joe's face left and right.

Joe simply groaned.

"Oh ! wake up already." Tony exclaimed in a panicked tone.

Joe slowly opened his eyes and rubbed the back of his head.

"What loving gift did God bestow upon me ?" Joe asked as he tried to sit up and make sense of his surroundings. He was still in the park, but disoriented.

" Thank God you're awake. You scared the wits out of me. What happened to you ?"

It took a moment before Joe's memeory could be reset to default and then he remembered...

"Frank ! Oh my God ! weird language . I don't understand ." Joe said all this in a rushed tone.

" Chill out man. Are you coming to tell me that you saw Frank here and he clonked you on the head ?"

"No. I mean yes. No. Wait, just listen, Frank texted me asking me to meet him at the park. So I came out here..."

"and it wasn't Frank" Tony interrupted.

"Yes. No no no no no no. I mean it was Frank, but he behaved like a different person."

"Define different person." Tony said as he slowly helped Joe up onto one of the metal seats in the park.

"He spoke in a different language."

"Spanish ?" Tony prompted.

"No. I would understand if it was Spanish. It was another language."

"Chinese then ?"

"No. He didn't speak with his nose."

Tony nearly felt like laughing at that last comment, but held himself from doing that.

Joe kept trying to recall his memory and was rubbing the back of his head.

" 'The toxotis' " Joe said suddenly to Tony and Tony looked back at Joe with the same incredulous expression Joe had given Frank.

"What ?" Tony asked

"That's what Frank said."

"okay you know what ? I'm really and greatly stumped. Mind explaining a bit more in detail what happened to you and Frank without the disorientation."

" Can't help it."

Joe calmed himself down and began his story. By the time the story ended Joe could see Tony's expression change from calm to incredulous to amazement to shock and then to incredulous, shock and amazement together, if such a thing was possible.

"So you are coming to tell me that you saw Frank. He acted weird . Told you he was dead eventhough he was very much there. Claimed he was this toxotis guy. Spoke to you in a different language . Some one hit you on the head, did the same to Frank..."

"which is an assumption." added Joe

"He passed out, you passed out. You're here and he's gone. This is surely a lot to proccess and something that can give me a heart attcak at a very young age." Tony replied.

Joe laughed. Tony sure had a way of lightning things.

"I'm worried Tony. I let him slip through my fingers. I should have called Dad, I guess."

"Do you remember anything he might have said ?" Tony asked.

Joe scratched his chin thoughtfully "something about 'Pes you patéra mommy, anklets kai o Theo's den, lion's den perhaps, that ton sync it."

Tony laughed.

"What ? He said it in such a way that I would be frozen with one gaze."

"seriously Joe? Mommy's anklets, lion's den and sync it."

Even Joe had to laught at that.

"Okay. So how did you find me ?" Joe asked as he slowly got up to walk.

"Your mom told me that you had gone to the park." Tony replied with a twinkle in his eye.

"What ? You seem to know something." Joe said taking the hint.

Tony smiled "I figured how to break the first code."

Joe stood shocked. "what ?" he asked.

"yeah."

"How ?" Joe asked.

"I'll show you" Tony said as they went back to the car.

* * *

"Frank Hardy is dead. Frank Hardy is dead."

"Frank ?" Lina said and shook Frank hard for the hundredth time that hour. "You are Frank Hardy and you are not dead." she replied speaking very clearly to the unconscious Hardy.

"Frank Hardy is dead."

Opening another bottle of cold water, she poured it over Frank's head. Frank seemed to stir a bit but still remained unconscious.

"Frank Hardy eínai nekrós". Frank said in the same unconscious state.

"Frank Hardy den eínai nekrós. Katalavaínete ?" Lina said trying to cope with the new personality change.

"Frank Hardy eínai nekrós".

"Frank Hardy den eínai nekrós. Frank Hardy den eínai nekrós." Lina repeated again and again.

Suddenly Frank opened his eyes and sat up .

"Frank! Are you okay ?" Lina asked.

"Frank Hardy is dead." Frank said .

"No." Lina replied firmly and a hint of realization seemed to come on to his face. Just when Lina thought Frank was back to normal, Frank held her neck and pushed her onto the floor and tried to strangle her.

"I'm going to kill you." he said in a mad man's tone.

"Frank " Lina called while he tried to get his hands on her neck.

Then with surprising force that startled Frank, Lina threw him off her. He landed hard on the ground. Lina tried getting up, but he pinned her down again from hte back. Frank fiercely got his hands on her neck, but Lina pushed him off again. Taking that moment of his surprise, Lina quickly pinned him down and Frank quickly took the oppurtunity to grab her neck with one of his free hands. Trying hard Lina clapped her hands with great force in front of Frank's face.

Suddenly for Frank it was as if the gears in his head had started functioning properly. He quickly shook his head and got out the blur image of Lina. She was clear in his line of vision now. It took him a moment to realize that his hand was still on her neck. Suddenly he felt remorse, guilt, anger and fear all at once if it was possible to feel so.

"Lina ? Oh My God ! What did I do to you ? Frank asked nearly on the verge of a panic attack.

"It's okay Frank." Lina said calmly eventhough she was exhausted. "It's good to have you back."

" Lina I'm really sorry. I didn't know what ... what .. I ... Oh ! My God ! I tried to kill you. I tried to kill you." Frank said realization finally setting in .

"Frank its okay."

Frank found himself slowly wavering on his feet when he got up. It was Deja vu all over again. He remembered hurling the wooden stool at his brother a week ago and now this. He couldn't stand this insanity.

"What's happening to me ?" Frank asked himself more than Lina.

"Frank why don't you get to the store room and take some rest, okay ? After that we can discuss your problems. Come on." Lina said calmly. She slowly led him to the store room and down the stairs to the secret room.

"It's okay." she replied soothingly as Frank slowly lay down on the cot. The moment his head hit the pillow he felt like sleeping.

"Lina... I'm sorry" he said before the world slowly blackened around him. Just as he shut his eyes, Lina saw a single tear spill onto the pillow. She couldn't help but feel sorry.

"I know Frank. I know what it feels like." she whispered.

* * *

There was a lot of excitement in the Cohen house. The entire gang had assembled upstairs in Phil's bedroom. All of them sat in a circle on the floor. Vanessa was fussing with the bump on Joe's head, putting an ice pack on it. Callie sat across from her next to Lina with worry creasing her forehead. Phil was setting aside a few papers. Biff was anxiously looking at Joe and Chet was pondering over the recent events that Joe had told them about. Tony was sitting quietly in between Phil and Joe.

"I can't believe it Frank isn't exactly the linguist type. He dosen't know another foreign language besides Spanish, a bit of a rusty French and some Latin." Callie said looking surprised at Joe's explanation.

"My thoughts exactly. He didn't speak Spanish, nor did he speak French. Those two are languages that I can understand, and I don't think Frank is that fluent in Latin either." Joe replied.

"I still can't believe it." Chet said shaking his head sadly.

"Did you tell your dad Joe ?" Lina asked

"I don't plan on telling him. He'll be furious if he knows that Frank slipped through our fingers."

"Okay lets now focus on what Tony has to tell us." Biff said in matter of fact tone, and every one agreed. Everyone was interested and Joe was edging forward as Tony displayed their first code.

 **nt kudw ua p suaparwe. U psnur swdwpr. Okwpaw, kwpcw nt dpnukt iyr I'd rgua.**

" Joe you seriously are gonna regret this man." Tony said before starting.

"Is it because I could have figured it out or is it because I'm mentioned."

"Both" was Tony's reply. "Okay. First off tell me how the Germans communicated messages."

" Random alphabetical order right ?" Callie said giving all her attention to the piece of paper in front of them.

"Right. Second tell me what is Frank usually best at ?" Tony asked with a smile.

"Space and science." Vanessa said.

"Right but something that he is actually crazy about."

"Technology ?" Phil answered.

"Quite close guys." Tony said.

There was a moment's silence before Joe answered.

"Computers. Frank's crazy about computers."

"BINGO !" Tony said excited.

"This is a computer code ?" Chet asked trying to cope up with what Tony was saying.

"Not exactly, but check this out." Tony said and from his bag pulled out a picture of a keyboard. "Tell me Joe, what letter comes after 'n' in the keyboard ?"

Joe looked at the picture that Tony had placed in the centre. "M" he replied.

"after 'T' " Tony asked.

"Y" came the reply.

Tony wrote down the first word of the code.

 **'My'**

Biff looked at Tony in shock and admiration. "Smokin' Chimney ! That's genius "

Even Joe looked shock. "How did you ...?"

"Check the rest of the code." Callie said her eyes brightening.

Tony did as she said. Soon the second word was decoded.

 **"Life"**

Tony soon wrote down the entire code and put it in the middle for every one to read.

 **'My Life is a Disaster. I Admit Defeat. Please Leave My Family Out Of This.'**

"Frank." Joe gasped when he had read the decoded piece of information. Never in his entire life had he seen Frank admit defeat and beg for mercy. The word Family warmed Joe's heart to a great extent, but still this worried him a lot. Frank accepting defeat.

"This is something big isn't it ?" Vanessa asked holding onto Joe's hand. "If Frank has to admit defeat..."

"I know. We're dealing with someone who is far more crueler than any criminal we have dealt with. We are probably dealing with Lucifer." said Joe and his voice was filled with worry and determination. I'm going to figure this out Frank. I really am.

* * *

It had been an hour or so after he had woken up to find a note left by Lina saying 'Phil's House.' He guessed the gang had figured something. Half an hour later his worst suspiscions came true when Lina texted him saying

'No. 1 Decoded.'

God ! Life was hell with a competetive brother.

...

 **A/n - Thanks for the reviews everyone , and also thanks for waiting. I try to make every chapter as interesting as possible. I hope all of you who read it too finds it so. I'd like to receive any corrections possible or know how you feel about the chapter. Once again Thank you all for your reviews and support.**


	10. LIFE IS DIFFERENT

Chapter -10

 **LIFE IS DIFFERENT**

Unfortunately, as Saturday turned out to be a disaster, their plans to go to BAAF didn't work out. Frank was sitting in his secret room impatiently waiting for Lina to come. Their new precaution after Frank's unfortunate meeting with the Psyche was ' stay in the Secret room no matter what'. This of course was meant for his safety as Joe had already caught him too close to Lina's house. Also, Frank was worried about Lina's safety. Thnaks to God's grace Valder did not know where he was hiding otherwise, Lina would have been in danger and he would never forgive himself if anything happened to her on his account. He already felt guilty for trying to kill her yesterday, he didn't need to add something else to his list.

At that moment the secret door opened. Frank looked at his watch, it was exactly 5 :00 a.m. Lina true to her word had punctually arrived.

"The coast is clear. We can leave." she said smiling.

"Great then !" Frank said and he pulled his hood over. It was then he noticed that Lina was not wearing her jacket over her usual attire.

"Aren't you wearing your jacket ?" he asked

"No. It would seem too suspiscious if two teenagers wore jackets and cooling glasses and people might notice." she answered serenely as Frank zipped his to the neck.

"Good thinking." he commented. ." So, you ready ?"

"hmm."

Frank smiled. They had already discussed the plan yesterday night. Both of them would go under the pretext of doing a project for Bayport University. In the middle, Lina would slip off to do some snooping. Lina stepped out first into the chilled air and Frank wondered if she felt cold, but soon shook away that thought as she started walking and did not show any sign of discomfort. After he was sure that Lina had walked a fair distance he got out through the back door and walked on the oppsite side of the street. Fortunately for them no one was in sight. When they had reached a fair distance and were closer to the BAAF. Frank crossed the road and walked to Lina . He quickly put on his cooling glasses and went over to the main gates.

"It's huge." Frank commented and Lina nodded.

To Frank's surprise there seemed to be more students than he had expected to see early in the morning. Anyhow he maintained his composure and searched the huge grounds for any sign of archers.

"There ..." Lina said as she pointed out to a couple of girls practising on targets.

Frank and Lina went upto them. None of the girls there seemed as old as or older than Frank and Lina and that was a great relief to the both of them as they did not want to give answers about their made up project work if any Bayport - U students happened to be there.

As they approached closer, the girls stopped their practise and turned to look at them.

Frank spoke first "Can we see your teacher ?"

The girls looked at each other and then back at the two of them.

"Which coach ?" one asked , Frank noticed she had a recurve bow and guessed she might be an advanced archer.

"Can we meet Coach Claymont ?" Lina asked suprising Frank with a name.

" He's at the junior's level in the west side." another girl who was about fifteen years old answered.

"Thanks." Frank said, and he and Lina proceeded towards the Junior Archer's training ground. There, Frank noticed a man in his mid fifties giving instructions to set of young boys. He had caramel coloured hair and hazel eyes.

"Now nock the arrow, pull it, focus ...and... fire !." he said and when all the arrows hit the target board he encouraged the young boys " Excellent ! In a few more days you kids will be hitting the centre."

"Really ?" Frank whispered to Lina.

"Its called encouragement . " Lina whispered back.

"I wonder how many kids actually hit the centre in a week." Frank said.

Suprisingly Lina's answer was "Quite a few." He had expected her to say none. Coach Claymont turned to the youngsters and the moment he laid eyes on Frank he said " There is nothing in this world I hate more than jelousy and boys with stupid cooling glasses."

"Uh... I have an eye infection sir." Frank said thinking quickly.

"Oh ! I guess its alright then." Coach Claymont said laughing. "So who are you two youngsters anyway ?"

"We are from Bayport - U , sir, we are doing an interview with the best coaches in Bayport. You happened to be the best Coach in Archery, also considering the fact that you have sent many of your Archers to the Olympics. We were wondering if you could spend some time with us." Frank said automatically.

"You do flatter me young man." he said laughing "but I'm getting old for interviews and everything."

"Please. For us." Lina said and Mr. Claymont looked at her.

"Have I met you before young lady ?" he asked her.

"No Mr Claymont." Lina replied in a bit of a suprise. To Frank it seemed she was taken aback by the question.

"Its just your eyes seem very familiar to me, anyway , never mind I'm just an old man loosing his mind. So, your interview, You fire away your questions while we are on our way to my office."

Frank nodded. As Mr. Claymont was finishing his class, giving the kids a few instructions, he leaned over to Lina.

"Do you know him ?"

"No. " was her reply.

"You sure ?"

"Was never interested in archery."

Frank dropped the conversation as soon as Mr. Claymont approached them.

"We shall move shall we ?" he said gestured the duo to a very spacious building.

"How long have you been working here Mr. Claymont ?" Frank asked

"Thirty years. For thirty years archery has been my food and life. I started at the age of 25 as junior trainer under Coach Mc Connery."

Frank stopped dead in his tracks "Coach Mc Connery ?"

"Yeah." apparently Mr. Claymont hadn't noticed the suprise in his voice. "A brilliant Coach ! Then he retired. His son did not follow his footsteps though. Became this huge business man in New Orleans. "

"And you got promoted to Coach Mc Connery's position ?" Lina asked to avoid an awkward silence.

"Not so easy child. After Coach Mc Connery, Coach Santiago took over for three years and then coach Melanie Harper for another three years. After that I was appointed as senior coach. "

"Melanie Harper was an Olympic medal winner, right ?" Frank asked having read about her somewhere.

"Right you are. Brilliant lady, and wise as an owl. She is the head administrator of BAAF and Phoenix Psychiatric Organization." answered Mr. Claymont.

The word 'psychiatric' was enough to make Frank lose his temper. But held it together.

"So, Mr. Claymont how do you like your students to be ?" Frank asked composing himself.

"Disciplined. Sincere. Loyal and Funny if they can help it." Mr. Claymont said and grinned.

"So do you teach both boys and girls or only boys ?" Lina asked, and Coach Claymont's face suddenly became thoughtful. According to Frank it was the 'wise look.'

"Hmm. Before when I was the Senior Coach here, BAAF used to have four teams. It was easy that way to take care of the children dividing the work between four Senior teachers. Two teams were for boys Two teams were for girls. Artemis, Amazons, Appolo and Orion." he paused for a while before saying "It went well; there was good competition and BAAF's Archery games between the four houses became a great thng like a festival kind."

Frank remembered seeing something like that when he was kid in the newspaper. He recalled that there used be five whole pages of description about the games, but he had never paid much attention.

"Some years later it became an issue_"

"what issue ?" Lina asked

"Well, at some point of time there was a small enemity between Appolo and Orion. I was incharge of Appolo then and Ms. Harper was incharge of Artemis. Appolo and Artemis helped each other and Amazon remained neutral. Soon, this enemity became a huge issue six years ago. So after that the management decided to keep only two teams Appolo and Artemis. Girls from Amazons blended without problem, but Orion they quit as a whole. But it was our fault things went to that extent."

"Why ? Why did it become BAAF's fault ?" Frank asked curiously.

Out of the corner of his eye, Frank noticed that Lina had tactfully slipped away under the pretext of talking to a few students. Frank felt proud of her. She is brilliant he thought. And then snapped his attention back at Mr. Claymont as he answered.

"Ha ! that ! We recognised the signs of enemity quite early. But we mostly ignored it. Just enemity between two friends is all we thought. But in the end it turned out to be tragic."

"But why didn't you try to make peace between them atleast the Orion Coach should have done something, right ?"

"We couldn't, because it was like dishonouring a great person. Orion was proud of the name, but in the end the gargoyle did the vile act." Mr. Claymont said in a kind of remorseful anger.

"Mr. Mc Connery's grandson ! He did it ."

Suddenly Frank did not know if he felt angry or happy. He contained his emotions.

" What did he do ?" Frank asked trying his best not to appear like a cop asking questions.

"Its too painful son. Besided it doesn't help your interview."

Frank immediately dropped the subject as Mr. Claymont lead him into his office on the third floor.

...

* * *

Lina kept wandering the halls for half an hour under the pretext of asking questions and searching for David ( Supposed to be Frank. Can't use his real name. ) Soon she reached the place she was looking for. If Frank wanted answers, this is the likely place. The locker room. It looked different she thought as she entered into the place where the archers kept their bows and arrows. She searched the different lockers. 'Appolo 19' where is it ? she kept thinking. Her eyes fell upon a few dusty lockers in the far end and she kept moving past the Appolo lockers in descending order, keeping a look out for Appolo 19. Finally she found it. It was just as she had remembered it. She quickly scrolled the password and unlocked the locker. Not a single thing was missing. 'Good !' she thought and swung it back shut. Now to search for Frank's information. At first she thought of going to Orion 91, but then realized that it would be an obvious place to do a search. So she turned on her heel to Appolo 91. She found Appolo 91 with no difficulty. Guessing the password was an easy job. The door gave a creaking sound and opened. Lina quickly rummaged through the locker taking her time. She found the arrow that Frank wanted. As she was about to close the door, a huge jar caught her eyes.

"It looks familiar." she said to herself as she inspected it. Suddenly realization dawned upon her.

"That cheat !" she cursed and took the jar. She didn't need to open it. She already knew what was inside it. She could feel the liquid shaking inside the jar, and old memories rushed back. With a sudden urge she opened the lid and saw the red liquid in it most of it had dried up, but that didn't prevent her from feeling sick. She quickly closed the lid and put it inside her bag that she had brought along. She looked at her watch it was five minutes to seven. She knew she had to get out before the next session came to the locker. Slowly she locked the locker room and went unseen and blended with the small population walking in the corridors. Soon enough Frank came down the stairs from her opposite side and he showed her thumbs up. They reached the main gates and crossed the road. Frank put his hoodie up as the regular walkers had already started coming by, and the streets were getting populated again. When they reached the entrance to Walker's street Frank suddenly turned around and pulled Lina back with him.

"What happened ?" she asked like a five year old asking.

"Joe." he whispered.

sure enough when Lina sneaked a glance. She saw the younger Hardy pacing the street.

"What is he doing here ?" Frank muttered to himself.

"Probably he is here to see Con."

"I don't know" Frank said annoyed.

"You are in double trouble." Lina said smiling

Frank turned to look around and saw Tony and Phil.

"You mean triple ." Frank said. "we have to hide."

"You must hide. I'll go distract them."

Frank looked at her unconvinced.

"What will you tell them ?"

"I went for jog." Lina answered

"With a bag ?" Frank whispered raising his eyebrows.

Lina looked thoughtful.

"Oh ! no ! They're coming this way." Frank said as he sneaked a look. He quickly pulled Lina near the arc that said in block letters WALKER' S STREET and pushed Lina against the wall. Her attire was too much of a give away. He had to do something to cover them both. As he felt Joe, Tony and Phil coming towards them, he moved closer towards Lina. Lina backed into the wall. The trio had actually reached the arc and he moved still closer to her, giving her almost no space to breathe.

"Excuse me."

Frank froze. He knew it was Joe's voice. His heart kept beating fast. How could he get out of this. How could he pretend he didn't hear the call. He cursed himself. He heard Joe's voice again.

"Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help me find a Mrs. Harrington."

Frank's heart started beating faster. Harrington ? Oh ! My God Joe had seen the list. 'Curse you Joe.! I'm trying to save your life and you are gambling it away.' he thought

"Excuse me." Joe said again.

And Frank inched closer towards Lina making her extremely uncomfortable. Their noses touched.

"uh... hello" Tony said and Frank felt a hand on his back. He froze. He couldn't ignore that. There was only one thing he could do, If he had to survive this present situation. That is if Lina didn't kill him first. He quickly pressed his lips into Lina's surprising her. At first he thought she would push him away, but thankfully she didn't. So he kissed her again and again.

"You know what, lets just go. A couple of pathetic lovers." Phil commented and the three of them walked away from the arch. The moment Lina felt that they had left. She pushed Frank away, but Frank held her hands, and whispered into her ear.

"The others are opposite to us. Callie and the others are there."

Frank could sense Callie looking from where he was standing.

On the opposite side, Callie was watching the couple kiss. She was filled with memories with Frank.

"You know, Frank and I used to be like that. That couple seems so happy. They remind me of Frank and me." Callie said to Vanessa as they were in the car.

Vanessa laid a hand on her best friend. "I understand Callie, but if it makes you any better, that guy over there could rather kiss a wall, because his girl doesn't seem to be kissing back at all."

The two girls laughed , and suddenly Vanessa said "I wonder where Lina is ?

"The guys will call her I guess."

"Hey ! any luck guys ?" Vanessa asked as she saw Joe and the others approaching her car.

"Nope. Just a pair of love sick people." Tony commented disgusted.

"What about Lina ?" Callie asked

"Con told us she wasn't back yet from her jog at the beach." Joe answered.

"Alright we'll call her later along with Biff and Chet." Vanessa said and the car took off.

Back where Frank and Lina was, Frank kissed Lina deeper when he felt Callie was looking in his way. He stopped only when he heard the engine start and take off. The two of them walked to Lina's house: Frank with relief flooding his face. He looked at Lina and saw no expression what so ever on her face. He wondered what she was thinking. Surely she understood that it was the need of the moment. But then a voice in his head said, 'you also wanted to.' He looked at Lina again : No expression. Did she even acknowledge the fact that I kissed her ? Frank thought. Why didn't I feel guilty ? I kissed her in front of Callie. Why didn't she feel guilty ? Then a thought occurred to him 'Do I love Lina ?' That explains the concern I have for her. And besides she is beautiful in her own way.

They soon reached the door. He looked at Lina : No expression. Frank recalled that when he had kissed her, Lina hadn't kissed him back even once. What was that supposed to mean ?

They went into the house. Lina locked the door. Then unable to bear the awkard silence, Frank started " Lina I'm extremely sorr_Ow ! " Frank didn't get to finish his sentence, the next minute he was rubbing his cheek which had turned red. Lina had slapped him really hard.

"Much better." Lina said serenely, and Frank was astonished.

"Much better ! I kiss you and that's all you've go to say ?"

"Yes." came the reply.

Before Lina could enter the dining room Frank grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"I love you." he said, searched Lina's eyes for any sign of surprise but found none.

Lina just looked at him amused and laughed.

"I said, I love you. You don't laugh when someone confesses their love." Frank said incredulously.

Lina laughed even harder. "I don't see why you have to say that."

Frank gave an incredulous expression, that clearly said 'What ?'

"Anyway, I love you too Frank." Lina said

and Frank moved to her, but stopped when she held up her hand. Don't try it again, I won't hesitate to kick you this time."

"But you said you love me too." Frank countered.

"As a brother." Lina said very firmly. "You don't kiss your sister like that Frank. You can't do it. And you must understand that there are different kinds of love. Just because you fall in love with someone, whom you decide is your life partner does not mean you are required to care less or hate everyone else around you. You love your mother, you can't kiss your mother like that, what would you have done if I was your biological sister ? Would you kiss me like that ? You love Joe. You love Vanessa. Love is of different kinds. You love your Mom, dad, brother , friends, sister.'I love you' is not a girlfriend only phrase. You can say that to your mom, your sister, brother, dad and friends. True love need not be always kissing and taking a girl out on dates or buying her a gift on her birthday. True love can also be found when a mother loves her child, when a friend is there to hear you or when a sister is jealous that her brother has a girlfriend and when a brother sacrifices his entire happiness for the well- being of another sibiling." Lina said. The last line was said in a whisper.

"Think about it Frank." Lina said " I am your sister. Not your girlfriend. Callie is; you can kiss her and treat her the way you want. But you can't do that to me.I am not some girl who is cheap enough to fall for another guy who just happened to kiss me. Especially a guy who is my best friend's lover and a guy whom I respect and treat as a brother. I am your sister and will be only your sister and friend. Nothing more and nothing less.

With that Lina shut the back door and left leaving a very amazed, astounded, bewildered and enlightened Frank.

 **A/n - I really don't know how many of you thought of kicking me when I wrote this. Anyway let me know what you think. Thank you for all the reviews, follows and favourites.**


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